


Community

by BaeLanna



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: F/F, Imperfection, Loss, Love, Psychodrama, indignity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-30
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2020-03-29 21:18:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19028137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BaeLanna/pseuds/BaeLanna
Summary: Seven's life changes as a new love, and new adversaries, push the boundaries of her senses and emotions...





	1. Confluence

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hello33willoTheWisp845](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hello33willoTheWisp845/gifts).



The most gentle kiss she had ever received… and Kathryn's body went temporarily rigid. The increasing temperature of her blood soon made her shudder. Her uniform suddenly became much too hot. In another second, Seven had laid her delicate hand on her Captain's arm, and Kathryn's petrified, but open lips released a gentle gasp. Against the rules and conventions which had dictated the course of her life for more years than there were stars, Kathryn inhaled her Astrometrics officer's clean fragrance. Her mind collapsing into a haze of deepest desire, the Captain's now gently straining lips closed softly around Seven's lower lip, and Kathryn returned the kiss gently, and nervously.

It was like tasting euphoria. The smoothness, the fullness and warmth of the younger woman's lips made Kathryn's chest heave. Kathryn quickly pulled away. Her pale face had turned pale pink with emotion, and she stared at Seven with fearful eyes. Seven, her rosy lips shimmering with the first taste of her Captain, did not release her hand, but slid it slowly onto Kathryn's thigh. A shiver travelled across Kathryn's skin in response to the younger woman's first caress of her body, and Seven smiled softly at her and leaned closer. Without hesitation, Kathryn took her young officer's golden head in her hands, moved forwards, and the two women began to kiss more quickly, more deeply.

Behind her closed eyes, Kathryn felt the beat of her heart and her fingers sunk into Seven's thick hair, a distinct moan rushing through her lips. She brought one knee upwards and onto the sofa, giving the former drone room to move forwards, and closer to her. But Seven tilted back her head and broke their kiss herself. Kathryn felt feverish and desperate, her eyes glistening and staring intently into Seven's baby blue eyes. Seven moved closer, but raised her hands upwards, stroking Kathryn's lipstick-smeared lips with her fingertips. 

The Captain watched her young officer's lips softly say, "We must return to our duties. Tomorrow we will have more time for fraternisation." 

"Tomorrow?" Replied Kathryn hoarsely, and released Seven's hair as the young woman stood up.

Dazed and embarrassed, Kathryn tried to straighten her uniform, her flushed face downtrodden. She looked upwards to see Seven releasing her now untidy hair from its tight hold. Seven raked her fingers once through the front of her hair to loosen it, and continued to stand silently in front of her Captain, her pinkend features retaining their Borg smugness… Until a small smile broke across her lips. Kathryn grinned gently before standing and speaking with a slight tremble, "Seven… Seven… I… I like you." 

Silence.

"… Yes, Captain." Replied Seven shortly, but with the slightest trace of amusement. Then with a few swift movements, she had restyled her hair into its usual clipped configuration.

Kathryn laughed nervously, "Your ocular implant has read me like a book since we first met…"

"Correct."

Kathryn then stepped closer to Seven, taking the younger woman's hands in her own, and looking once more into her large eyes.

The Captain spoke with a husky purr Seven had never heard before, and which made the young woman take a sharp but silent intake of breath, "… You really are so beautiful…" And with that, Kathryn kissed Seven's cheek, and then the side of her neck. Seven closed her eyes as she felt the Captain's lips travel over her jaw, and slowly back onto her lips.

Kathryn released Seven's hands and placed her own softly upon the younger woman's waist. The two women shared a long, tender kiss, in which they communicated the inexpressible feelings they shared for one another. Feelings which had been suppressed for the three or four years since they had first met, and which were at long last being honoured.

Seven's elegant hands wavered in midair as energy drained from her limbs, heat creeping up her chest and between her legs. She then gently unclasped Kathryn's hands and stepped backwards.

Looking and sounding less Borg and more vulnerable, her determination to remain impassive quickly failing, Seven regarded the petite form of her Captain. She said quietly, "Thank you for not rejecting me."

Before Kathryn could respond or even understand why the younger woman had contemplated her own rejection, Seven was at the doors, exiting her Captain's quarters.


	2. Initiation

'… I had been strangling her. I woke up with tears in my eyes. In my dream, I had been trying to drown her. I hated her more than I was even able to cope with. It made me sick, and so I isolated myself. Or at least, I tried to. It's not easy to isolate yourself when you have to share quarters with three other crewmen. Some nights I slept in the Jefferies tubes. That was until I received a warning from Lieutenant Tuvok. I tried to find other places to rest, to be alone, but I quickly realised there was no escaping it. I was stuck here. I am stuck here, we all are, and I could have killed Janeway for it…'

Seven's eyes fixed upon the words of the personal log. She had certainly had comparable feelings of anger, of desperate fury. She may have torn the Captain limb from limb had she not been extricated from large parts of her Borg armoury. But there was something else… She had been scared of the human Captain.

'… The energy I had spent hating our Captain, I finally realised, had been energy totally wasted. And I learnt to adapt. To stop resisting. Or at least, to resist in other ways, in fun ways. After Chakotay gave up on me, Janeway had me in her office several times. She parroted the Commander. She threatened to take my replicator rations, my holodeck time. I asked her if she wanted to take the clothes from my back as well. Clearly my contempt for her as our Captain, and our "community leader", was making me into an arrogant little sod. Finally, in response to my chronic insubordination, Janeway demoted me from Ensign to Crewman. And I took the opportunity to tell her she should wash her hands better after masturbation. The smell of pussy on her fingers as she removed my single pip was unbecoming and unwarranted…'

Seven paused. She already knew that Crewman Gemma Collins tended to speak unambiguously. The jibe about the Captain's fingers was something Seven herself had noticed on multiple occasions upon entering Janeway's ready room. The young woman moistened her lips as she indulged in the memory of that delicious smell.

She quickly backtracked to another phrase which had caught her attention. 

"Community Leader". Voyager was Seven's new collective, but "collective" was really the wrong word. After the Intrepid class starship became stranded, and hope for a timely return to Earth quickly dissipated, the Voyager crew did indeed become a community. And although it was not the role she was assigned, Kathryn did become the leader of that community.

The Captain and her crew had to embrace a new life, just like Seven of Nine did after her failed attempt to deliver Voyager to the Borg. But unlike her life with the Borg, there was no "Queen" on Voyager. Only a Captain, a "leader". Someone Collins could freely disobey, without being deactivated and dismembered.

If Collins was free to hate the Captain, did that mean that Seven was free to love her? Was it freedom that the crewman valued? Seven would have liked to know. She was very curious about the life and motivations of this particular crewman.

'… But I will never get over Annie. I believe I have mostly forgiven Janeway for making the choice which separated us forever. I blame myself now, for deciding I wanted to serve aboard a starship in the first place. It seems so silly. Why did I want to explore the stars, the planets, when the most spectacular natural phenomena I would find in the universe, was the love and life I shared with a nurse in San Francisco…'

Seven's interest in the personal log entry peaked as she read on, her hormones silently straining her insides. She had read many of Collins' accounts of her time and intimacy with her long-term partner, Annie. And although she found it difficult to admit to herself, she enjoyed the similarity to her own human name, Annika. Seven would regularly imagine herself and the Captain making love and building a life together, just as Gemma and Annie had… before Janeway's fateful decision all those years ago had promptly ended their happiness as partners forever.

Seven had experienced physical love only once. It was with a young man inside what seemed effectively a dream; regeneration inside Unimatrix 01. Her thoughts suddenly focused upon the inevitability that she may very soon be making love to her Captain. She felt herself becoming wet. Embarrassed. And guilty. Should she desire a Captain who has left such an undeniable track of destruction behind her?

Does Janeway deserve love? Does Seven of Nine, former Borg drone, deserve it? Perhaps they really were suited to one another, for all the wrong reasons. Seven lowered her head.

'… I had everything, and I gambled it away. No, I didn't know that our ship would end up in this ridiculous situation. But I knew that working in space was risky. But Annie and I agreed that I should 'risk it for a biscuit', and I did. I guess neither of us considered what would happen in the event the crew of Voyager, myself included, were kidnapped and dumped an impossible distance from home…'

Seven looked away from the padd the hacked crewman's personal log was displaying, and stood up from the regeneration chamber platform she was sat uncomfortably upon.

Her contradicting emotions were causing her unease. The morality of a relationship with Voyager's Captain aside, Seven's efforts to acquire knowledge rather than assimilate it had led her to betray the confidence of her fellow crewmembers. For well over two years now, she had been using her inherited Borg knowledge to access many of their personal files, in an attempt to improve her understanding of human emotions… Or more specifically, Seven had been accessing crewmember's personal files, in a search for companionship. It was an attempt to assuage the deepening lows of her own human emotions. Whether she deserved them or not, she didn't like such negative feelings. And she had eventually decided that such feelings were making her a less efficient crewmember.

She wanted a friend. And felt embarrassed to admit it. The Doctor had always been kind to her, and cared about her very much, but she wanted more than he could offer. Collins had a freedom of spirit which confused and intrigued Seven, and so Seven had taken the liberty of reading all 2296 personal log entries the crewman had made whilst serving aboard Voyager. The two women were the same age, and Seven thought she knew Collins pretty well…

If she was going to begin a relationship with Kathryn, she wanted a female friend who could advise her, and support her. But friendship with one of her peers was a fantasy. Her social lessons had made her feel more ignorant, not less. And in what universe would Collins want Janeway to be happy anyway?

'Hello Seven of Nine...'

Seven clutched the padd in her hands. She blinked.

'As you will undoubtedly know, I am highly adept in computer science, as well as being a fine engineer. So when the crew began to fret that a liberated Borg drone would be joining us for the journey to nowhere, I foresaw that you would have a similar anxiety about starting a new life with us, your inferior home species…'

Seven stared in disbelief at the padd. She felt herself begin to sweat.

'I knew that eventually you would choose to spy on us. I would do the same. We are quite alike, you and I. I know this because I have been spying on you as well. I have been reading your personal logs, and I have taken the liberty of being generally nosy about you. I only regret that it has taken me this long to speak with you. You see, for the longest time, I believed that you were still a drone. A drone fully capable of completing its mission to make drones of us all…'

The young woman shook with nerves. She could not be angry, she herself had been caught in the act. She was used to members of Voyager's crew being hesitant, even openly reluctant, to work with her, especially in the beginning. Especially Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, Collins' boss. But Collins had never shared any of her concerns about Seven's past in any of her personal log entries before. 

Seven braced herself.

'But since you are now entering into a romantic relationship with our Captain, I felt it appropriate to leave you a little message…'

"… What?" Seven quietly choked. How could Collins know about her and the Captain? It had only been a couple of days since Seven had been in Janeway's quarters. The two women hadn't had the opportunity to meet privately since then. It was impossible that Collins knew. How many other people knew then as well? The Captain certainly would not want the crew to find out about their deepening relationship. She may even blame Seven.

Seven gritted her teeth. Her eyes darted around the Cargo Bay in panic, as if Collins or someone else was even at this moment watching her. Had someone seen her leave the Captain's quarters?

'Well done, and thank you. Janeway is confident, but her confidence does not fully conceal the many peaks of her blatant misery. She is the Captain, and she is pathetic. That was, until she finally sealed the deal with you…'

Seven rapidly read on. The comment about the Captain being "pathetic" frustrating her already agitated nerves. And why was Collins congratulating her, and thanking her?

'It will be a lot more fun trying to give Janeway a hard time if I know that she is now starting a new life, with a new love. It will be a challenge. And challenges always bring out the best in Starfleet officers…'

Seven was thoroughly confused. Defensive of her Captain, whom Collins was clearly admitting to having a vendetta against. And stung by the implication that only Starfleet officers performed admirably in the face of challenges. But what was Collins saying? What did she want from Seven? 

'Go to your regeneration chamber. I have left a present for you just above the main interface.'

Without a second thought, Seven grabbed the tricorder from her workstation, opened it, and aimed it at the interface. She approached the green lights with grim determination, raising the tricorder just above the interface. A substance Seven recognised but had never herself come into contact with registered on the tricorder screen.

Black liquid then burst across Seven's face and she stumbled backwards, dropping the tricorder. The liquid continued to drip over the interface from a small crevice in the location Collins had directed.

Seven wiped her sodden face with the purple sleeve of her biosuit. Her expression revealed agitation, but not anger. She spent several moments delicately wiping her eyes and blinking.

"Collins to Seven of Nine…"

An excited, young, female voice then came through her combadge. Seven continued to wipe her face, ink smearing deeper across and into the skin on her face and hands. The dark liquid had clogged across the eyelashes of her human eye, and bled into the blonde roots of her hair.

"Seven, we want you to join our team tomorrow for the beginning of the tournament. Consider the ink splattering your initiation. You are one of us. A rebel. Your new girlfriend will be an opponent. Torres says games start at 1900. See you there!"

Eye reddening and stinging from ink contamination, Seven slapped her combadge. She answered the crewman in a steady, emotionless tone.

"Acknowledged."


	3. Take Me Out

"The grey unfortunately resembles the discolouration I experienced as a drone. Though I do not believe that was her intention."

Beneath the illumination of the Captain's ensuite lights, Kathryn's lithe fingers traced across the ink stain which covered most the right side of Seven's face and neck. An ill-disguised scowl made the auburn-haired older woman bare her teeth for a moment, as curses and punishment ideas flooded through her mind.

Without having been told the story of Crewman Collins and her secret ink jet, Kathryn had initially seen Seven and assumed that the still beautiful young woman had been having a little too much fun in engineering. The truth had caused the Captain to despair, and also, as was her job, to reprimand Seven for her unauthorised access of her fellow crewmen's personal log files.

Though the reprimand consisted only of gentle words and a seductive smile, Seven understood that she was not to break the crew's confidence in this way again. The young woman was glad she had drawn the line at accessing the Captain's personal files, either out of fear or respect she could not yet say. But she was relieved when Kathryn appeared satisfied that her confidence had not also being broken by her Astrometrics Officer in this way. Seven could not help but wonder what the Captain might be hiding in her personal logs…

"She is determined…" Began Kathryn, with forced calm, her thumb now stroking Seven's soft, light grey cheek, "… to be disruptive." And taking Seven's head once more in both of her hands, the Captain brought her mouth towards the grey-splattered side of the younger woman's round, still mostly pink lips, and kissed her tenderly. Seven closed her eyes and simply felt Kathryn's sweet lips caress her own. The Captain lingered for several moments, her tongue touching the edges of Seven's open mouth, before she resumed a more earnest kiss.

Arousal quickly taking hold of her, Seven inhaled deeply through her nose before hotly returning the kiss. She wrapped her arms around the Captain and enjoyed hearing the Captain moan over her skin. Kathryn's arms now around the younger woman's neck, her hands elevated away from Seven's neatly styled hair, the two women's bodies pressed softly against one another. Feeling her clit pulsating, Seven's mouth opened wider and she sighed. Kathryn immediately caught Seven's lower lip between her smiling teeth and gently nipped the younger woman's flesh.

Wishing to stay in the Captain's embrace all night, Seven was reminded that the Captain was not in her uniform, but was wearing something else. Her eyes lowered to gaze upon Kathryn's exposed neck, upper chest and shoulders. The pale, freckled skin so enticing it was difficult to move her eyes away, Seven's eyes eventually moved to look at the fitted, Starfleet issue, mid-grey vest top, and baggy, above knee shorts her Captain was wearing.

When she looked back into Kathryn's face, the older woman was still smiling at her, her deep, blue eyes desirous and maddeningly beautiful. Taking the initiative, Seven gently began to slide her fingers beneath the hem of the back of Kathryn's shorts, and straight into her knickers. Fingers finding smooth, warm skin, Seven kissed Kathryn slowly, and pushed her full hand onto the Captain's buttocks. Kathryn gasped softly and continued to hold the younger woman as Seven breathed against her neck, squeezing each of her bum cheeks in turn and gripping the Captain's waist with a strong arm.

Kathryn moaned softly, her knees weakening and thighs opening. As Seven took most of the Captain's weight in her arm, her breasts pushed warmly underneath Kathryn's own. The younger woman sighed, her fingers travelling over the curve of Kathryn's ass, and across the older woman's wettening slit. Kathryn whimpered and strained her back, pushing her pussy into Seven's tender fingertips. 

Clinging tighter to the younger woman's neck, her hot breath burnt across the skin of Seven's ear as she shamelessly and breathlessly pleaded, "… Do it…". 

Heart racing, Seven stroked her long fingers gently through the warm fluid of her Captain's centre. Eliciting a choked gasp from the older woman, the Captain's breaths now coming fast and her skin pinkening with desperation, Seven removed her hand. But before Kathryn could say anything, she was in Seven's arms, lovingly wrapping her legs around Seven's waist.

The younger woman carried Kathryn into the bedroom, and placed her steadily back onto the ground. Her clothes creased, lips swollen, and pink skin glistening from a light coating of perspiration, Kathryn stood meekly before Seven, who turned and sat at the end of her bed. The younger woman opened her legs wide. She was flushed and smiled slyly up at the Captain. Kathryn stepped forwards, and Seven raised her hands to take the hems of the Captain's shorts and knickers. The two women's eyes met, and Seven began to slowly remove Kathryn's lower garments. 

Kathryn stepped out of her clothes. She began to blush violently as she watched Seven's widening eyes roll over her slender legs. Seven's eyes fixed upon her Captain's auburn-thatched pussy and she slowly turned the older woman around, pulling her onto the bed. Kathryn sat in between Seven's powerful thighs and turned her head towards the younger woman. As she began to feel Seven's warm hands slowly opening her thighs, gently stroking the inside skin whilst pushing her legs wider and wider apart, Kathryn's eyes fluttered closed, all breath leaving her. She took the cue to hook her ankles over Seven's shins, and the younger woman immediately began to rub her fingers into the slickness of Kathryn's pussy.

The Captain's centre immediately ached with pleasure. 

"We are due in the Mess Hall…" Seven whispered sweetly into the ear of her softly panting partner, "… In fifteen minutes…" 

Kathryn began to gyrate her body into the rhythm of Seven's deliciously soft fingers, Seven's massaging of her clit being more stimulating than she could have dreamed possible. Desirous to feel the younger woman inside of her, her gyrations became more desperate. As Seven continued to simply touch her however, Kathryn quickly, and without complaint, experienced exhilaration such as she had never felt before.

The Captain groaned with rapidly increasing desire. Seven smiled and began to delicately kiss Kathryn's outstretched neck. Her fingers continued to creep over the older woman's clit with torturous sensitivity, and she felt deeply aroused as each of her senses registered Kathryn's passion.

With the stunning ex-drone panting harshly against her skin, Seven's free hand sliding from her midriff into her bra to cup and squeeze her small, bare breast, her busy hand starting a glorious vibration over Kathryn's clit, Kathryn's body began to burn and she climaxed. She whined in hunger, and Seven dragged her teeth softly across her Captain's neck.

The Captain's gyrations continued slowly, her lover's fingers continuing to rub her wetness gently. She shivered as she felt the younger woman's hot mouth roam excitedly over both sides of her neck, and eventually she felt Seven's hands moving back onto the insides of her aching thighs.

The musk of the older woman's silky juices, the sweetness of her sweat, as well as the odours Seven recognised as her own, together made the younger woman almost drowsy with need. Finally, moaning tenderly once more into the Captain's warm skin, Seven suppressed a shudder as she slowly closed her Captain's legs. 

Her own legs continued to encase the smaller woman tenderly. Her arms wrapped gently around Kathryn's waist, and both women breathed slowly, teeth shining and faces glowing with satisfaction. As they re-oxygenated their blood, both women felt excited for the promise of being able to continue this, and more, later.

"I am going to shower and change…" Kathryn rasped dreamily, her eyes closed as she continued to relish the feeling of Seven's body against her own. Strands of red hair clung to her forehead and to her cheeks and her lips were naked, lipstick having disappeared into the soft pinkness of her own, and Seven's skin.

A long moment later, the younger woman released her Captain, and the older woman rose gracefully. Turning to look wistfully at the young blonde perched on her bed, Kathryn spoke again in her irresistible, husky, low tone, "I will meet you shortly, sweetheart."

Seven stood to her full height and looked imperiously down upon Kathryn. Kathryn smiled inwardly and wondered just how many times the two of them had stood before one another, and simply looked at each other. So, so many times. Though Seven did have a rather playful look to her on this occasion; the small ink explosion on her face was new. 

Seven then turned to examine the juice-dampened fingers of her right hand. She raised them to her lips. A pink tongue met her fingertips and Kathryn's smile dropped into an almost discreet, lustful gape.

A rare grin broke across Seven's face, her wide eyes glittering as she beheld her dishevelled and singularly beautiful Captain. Kathryn's taste was so stimulating, and Seven knew that she later wanted to fill her mouth with it. 

Placing her hand around Kathryn's shoulder, Seven once more lent down, and kissed her Captain tenderly. Kathryn tasted her own musk, the salt of both of their sweat, and the sweet taste of passion on the younger woman's soft lips. For several long moments she delighted in the feeling of Seven's mouth on hers. And before arousal could reach its inevitable and irreversible peak, Kathryn dragged her lips away.

Smiling gently down at her Captain, Seven lovingly squeezed Kathryn's shoulder before releasing it, quietly confirming, "I will inform the teams that you are on your way."

\---

Seven barely recognised the Mess Hall when she entered it.

The starfield shone brightly, with many silhouetted figures mulling in between one another before it.

There was a babel of excited talk, chinking glasses and laughter, both nervous and raucous. As Seven's eyes adjusted to the low illumination, she noticed that there were crewmembers of all ranks and none stood side-by-side and mixing. Seven's ocular implant registered that at least half of those present sported semi-permanent ink stains across their faces, although unlike Seven's own, these ink stains were patterned into simple stripes, or shapes. 

Seven did not find this new information disconcerting, however. Crewman Collins had wanted to test Seven's tolerance for petty human pranks, and as members of the crew turned to notice the ex-drone who wore a blatant, grey splatter across half of her face, as well as an expression of polite indifference, young Ensign Harry Kim was the first to cheer and raise his glass.

"Seven!" A delighted Lieutenant Tom Paris exclaimed, turning around next to him and sharing in his best friend's enthusiasm.

Having again tidied up her hair and being glad for the dim illumination, which she hoped was hiding the deep flush which had crept over the collar of today's mauve biosuit following her rendezvous with the Captain, Seven smiled at the warm greeting she was afforded by those crewmembers who had worked with her the most.

"I see you have joined the dark side…" A plain faced Tom continued, gesturing to the beaming, ink marked Harry and Chakotay who had also approached.

"You mean the winning side!" an enthusiastic Kim declared, with Chakotay raising his glass in approval, "Amen to that."

Seven felt a soft tug on her arm, and an ink striped B'Elanna put a half full glass of dark liquid in Seven's hand. The half-Klingon smiled craftily at Seven, clinking her glass against hers, "We've got this. I don't know who I'm against, I just know that she's older than me…" The Lieutenant looked around the room eagerly before making a joke suggestion, "Maybe it's the Captain."

Seven then noticed that B'Elanna was wearing Starfleet issue vest top and shorts, just like Kathryn's.

"It is the Captain." Seven replied, looking as surprised as B'Elanna looked incredulous.

At that moment, a copper-skinned science officer, a woman, about the same height and shape as Seven, though closer in age to Torres, with bright amber eyes and short, curly, pale peach-coloured hair, approached the two women. 

She smiled at Seven, "Seven of Nine, I thought Gemma was just spreading more stories when she told me you were coming…" The science officer proffered her hand, and Seven shook it a little awkwardly. The Ensign continued, "I'm Kitty. When Gemma tried to christen me with that black muck I just wrestled the bitch away. I know that you weren't given the chance." 

Like Kathryn, plain-faced Kitty gave Seven a despairing look as she noted the extent to which Collins' prank had worked.

Seven hesitated, wondering if Kitty knew about her unauthorised access of crewmember's personal logs which included her own. From the apparently genuine friendly smile the Ensign was wearing, Seven guessed not. 

"Where is Crewman Collins?" Enquired Seven with interest, and relief that she had not been exposed, and as Kitty opened her mouth to answer, her eyes darted to Seven's side, where the Captain had appeared suddenly.

The room quietened.

Kathryn had indeed showered and changed, but her damp, towel-dried hair, which hung in an uncharacteristic high ponytail, and her still naked lips, and near naked eyes, but for a trace amount of mascara, as well as her vest and shorts, identical to B'Elanna's, made for a Captain free from the usual constraints of uniform and grooming.

Her skin still glowed from the encounter she had shared not long before with Seven, and from the hot hydro-shower she had treated herself to afterwards.

The crew gaped at her, and she smiled genteelly back at them all. In her smile many of them once again recognised the woman who had been their Captain for over six years, her svelte figure and natural beauty being of no real surprise to anybody.

Kathryn turned to Seven, politely acknowledging Kitty with a nod, and gently laid her hand on the younger woman's elevated forearm, which still clutched her untouched glass.

Seven felt the eyes of the crew focusing upon the two women, and she immediately felt panic. She still did not know how many people knew about the evolving nature of her relationship with the Captain. 

Seven looked quickly into Kathryn's eyes, but the Captain looked steadily back at her and spoke with a casual voice which nevertheless carried to each corner of the quietened room.

"Crewman Collins has been confined to quarters. Just for the opening of the tournament."

Concern, not for herself, but for the crewman she had never formally met, began to cast a shadow over Seven's already grey features. Mistaking this subtle change in her young lover's expression for confusion, Kathryn elaborated.

"I thought that I would give her gossiping mouth the night off." Kathryn continued, before leaning in closer to speak into Seven's ear. Many members of the crew reluctantly returned back to their conversations, the muscles of their eyes and ears straining for more information as Kathryn spoke privately to Seven, "Collins approached me recently to ask me if you were my girlfriend."

"Captain, I do not know how the crewman discovered -" Seven began in a quick and quiet defence of her integrity, but Kathryn calmed her by gently caressing the younger woman's arm and speaking softly, "No, it is I who must apologise…"

The Captain lowered her head for a moment, and then continued, "She must have noticed how often I looked at you. How I watch you. And probably how it makes me blush. Probably everybody noticed."

Kathryn gave a heavy sigh, and looked back into Seven's eyes. She spoke in a whisper, and her tone was pleading. Seven immediately felt compassion.

"Without really thinking, I told her 'No'. I had been caught offguard, and in my panic, she had got the answer she wanted. She knew I had just lied to her. And then in true, Collins fashion, she disseminated the information to the whole sector, I believe."

Seven lifted her head and tilted her chin upwards, as was her signature response to passive provocation. She would speak with Collins, and challenge the crewman's intrusion into the private life of the Captain and herself later. Seven felt frustrated as she had been blaming herself for somehow accidentally exposing her and the Captain's private activities. She still felt a sense of foreboding however as she imagined Collins trapped alone in her shared quarters, as the rest of the unoccupied crew gathered for the start of these community games. She did care about Gemma Collins, though, against her better judgement she felt.

"I understand, Captain." Seven then replied matter-of-factly, adding, "No apology is needed. The crewman acted inappropriately."

Kathryn smiled warmly into Seven's warm, blue eyes, and then gestured towards Seven's untouched drink.

"Can I have that?"

Seven handed the glass to her Captain and watched as Kathryn swallowed the dark, red liquid in several, large gulps. A drop escaped her lips and dribbled slowly towards her chin. As Kathryn lowered the glass, she wiped the excess liquid away with the pad of her thumb. Under Seven's hot gaze, she slowly dragged her thumb across her lower lip, and smiled coquettishly up at the younger woman. 

Seven's mouth became dry.

Kathryn handed the empty glass back to her Astrometrics Officer and remarked, "Blood wine. I feel braver already." Turning to Lieutenant Torres, whose eyebrows were still raised in response to the speed at which the Captain had swallowed the beverage, Kathryn inquired, indicating towards the rapidly dispersing, wrestling ring marked in small red lights on the floor of the dining hall, "Shall we dance, Lieutenant?"

"Alriiight!" Beckoned a gleaming Ensign Kim, who threw his hands together from behind the Lieutenant, initiating tumultuous applause. All crew members present finally cleared the ring and welcomed the first two competitors of the games with wild enthusiasm.

The illumination in the centre of the room increased, and the crew's bright eyes and smiles were thrown into relief. A small figure stepped forward from a far corner of the ring and faced the Captain and her Chief of Engineering, who now stood side-by-side on the outside edge of the ring.

"Understand that upon entering this circle you leave your rank and your nerves behind. The only way out is by force. Or forfeit."

It was a young girl's voice. Magnified by a hidden microphone, it was harsh, and alarmingly serious.

Naomi Wildman, subunit of Ensign Samantha Wildman, was stood in miniature, Starfleet, formal command officer dress. The shadows cast by the row of small points on her forehead, the distinct squint of her eyes as she stared at the competitors, and the classy updo which Kathryn herself had styled for her earlier that day, made the young girl appear more imposing than any child should.

Seven smiled warmly at the sight of her, and Naomi's eyes flitted towards the ex-drone she considered her big sister. Naomi smiled happily at Seven, and then at her mother who Seven noticed was not stood far from her own location, before quickly returning to squinting at the Captain and B'Elanna.

An enthusiastic but urgent whisper then came from the crowd, as an unmarked Neelix caught Naomi's, and everybody else's, attention.

"Don't forget to introduce the tournament, Naomi!"

"Oh yes…" The young girl acknowledged, before confidently raising her voice to address the room, "Crew and community of the USS Voyager, I bid you welcome to our first, unofficial, (stranded) Starfleet crew community games!"

Good-natured cheers and jeers filled the Mess Hall, with Torres and the Captain joining in the applause, though each silently meditating upon the words Naomi had used to introduce the tournament. "Stranded"." Community".

Having been born on the starship herself, Naomi was the only member of Voyager who was already, technically home. And it was her desire for all crew members to feel as settled and optimistic as she did which had inspired her to request permission to organise and oversee a community games tournament. For she was all too aware that many members of the crew, her mother included, continued to suffer from periods of near unendurable homesickness.

She wanted to expand the work of her godfather, Neelix, and help boost crew morale, and Janeway and Chakotay had both thought it was an excellent idea. 

"Representing the Inky Blinders, the audacious, the vivacious, Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres!" Naomi announced as enthusiastic cheers and applause, and playful boos, filled the Mess Hall with inescapable noise once more. Torres raised her fist and growled in determination.

Naomi then continued projecting her voice above the crowd like a pro, "And representing the Above-Average Joes, the insatiable, the unstoppable, Captain Kathryn Janeway!"

If anyone was booing it could not be heard over the earsplitting cheers, applause, and shrill whistles. 

Kathryn smiled, and turned to see B'Elanna whistling through her fingers before cheering along with the rest of the crowd, delighted at the tenacity of her commanding officer opponent.

Seven could not help but smile widely at the crew's enthusiasm for their Captain, and as Paris clapped her affably on the back as she applauded quietly, she could only smile more widely as he strained his voice to say to her with great warmth, "It's your missus versus my missus. Lets hope at least one of them survives."

" Indeed…" Replied Seven, and the pair watched their partners step forwards into the ring.

The steady, female voice of Voyager's computer, initiating as soon as the Captain and Lieutenant crossed the threshold into the ring, carried loud and clear over the cheers of the crowd…

"Beginning of First Voyager Community Games. Battle number one. Battle competitors: Janeway, Kathryn Elizabeth, challenging Torres, B'Elanna…" 

As Naomi exited the ring, the small red lights brightened and lengthened to form a solid red ring. The two competitors took their places opposite one another, several meters of clear space in between them, and the computer continued to speak.

"The name of the game: Take Me Out. Description: Each competitor will have three chances to remove their challenger from the ring…"

Both women's bodies assumed a fighting stance. Their bare legs bended, and their arms and upper bodies prepared to wrestle. Seven noticed that neither woman was wearing anything on her feet, and her stomach suddenly turned over. The Captain and the Lieutenant were actually going to fight. Paris had not spoken in jest; both women were indeed fully capable of killing one another.

And she was not the only one whose confidence in the suitability of such a "battle", as the computer had called it, looked to be wavering. Naomi herself had suddenly become very white.

"Rules: No hair pulling…"

The Doctor, who was busy being jostled about by the uncommonly excitable crew, rolled his eyes, clearly unimpressed by the self-inflicted injuries he knew were coming. Chakotay chuckled and put an arm around him reassuringly. Kitty, meanwhile, had began to filter in between different Inky Blinder team members, many of whom turned to look at Seven briefly as the copper-skinned woman appeared to be relaying messages to them.

Seven did not notice.

"Referee: Wildman, Naomi Nadia. Round One…"

Naomi turned quickly to the Captain, who had noticed the younger girl looking worried. Kathryn winked and smiled at her, and Naomi's confidence immediately returned as she grinned back.

She raised an old-fashioned whistle to her lips, and blew.

Torres charged towards Janeway, and catching the slightly slimmer woman around the waist, Torres tackled her to the floor.

Seven felt Paris flinch. Her own heartbeat began to quicken.

Amidst ecstatic cheers from B'Elanna's teammates in the crowd, and audible gasps of horror as Janeway hit the ground, there were cries of, "Come on, Captain!" and, "Go on, Torres!" The Doctor's face was screwed up indignantly, his mouth open as he helplessly watched the Captain and the Chief of Engineering become a tangle of arms and legs on the floor. Both women were red in the face and beginning to crash over one another as they fought to gain dominance.

Seven registered a notable change in the odour of the room as not only B'Elanna and the Captain, but everybody bar the Doctor, began to perspire and become more breathless with each passing second. She shifted nervously and strained her neck to ensure a good view.

Kathryn's mind was becoming distracted as in the midst of battle, she was laughing at herself, and remembering all the times her and the Lieutenant had come to blows verbally. They were probably unsuitable competitors, given their history of disagreement. But who cared. After the teams had been organised, Naomi had personally asked each of the competitors if they would play a fellow, unknown, female competitor at the start of the games.

She groaned as Torres managed to catch her arm and drag it behind her back, the engineer's pelvis digging into her ass as she felt the Lieutenant straddle her back briefly, weakening her further. Torres then proceeded to drag her across the floor by the same arm, the joints of which were now burning.

Her thoughts turned suddenly to sex. She was already aching all over, but wrestling a woman as solidly muscle as the Lieutenant made her think of the ex-Borg drone who was on her bed just half an hour ago. 'Wrestling Seven would be fun…' she hazily thought to herself, as the Lieutenant released her arm and she stilled and slumped onto the ground, vaguely aware of the carpet burns on her skin.

"Torres scores; Torres One, Janeway Zero", announced the computer.

Her energy gradually returning, Kathryn began to push herself off the ground, politely refusing the help she was offered by surrounding crewmen. 

The booming noise of the crowd, who had moved to allow Torres to take her out of the ring, began to thrill and inspire the Captain in a way she was not used to. 

Though she had been flattened and could taste blood in her mouth, she turned to grin at Seven. The younger woman's lips spread into a small smile.

Seven was struggling against the nervousness she had felt in seeing Torres crushing her partner, and was anxious about how the battle would progress. Paris couldn't help but just feel guilty. B'Elanna was certainly ferocious, but her aggression had still managed to surprise him, and everybody else.

Kathryn turned towards B'Elanna, who was again standing next to her.

The Lieutenant smiled broadly at her, revealing bloodstained teeth, undoubtedly caused by their scuffle. There was a distinct look of worry on Torres' face, despite her win and joviality. She watched the Captain pull her slack hair tie from her deep red hair, and briefly shake it loose. Kathryn then cocked her head, her thick hair falling over her shoulders, and asked casually "Had a good warmup?"

B'Elanna laughed, feeling calmer, and flexed her lightly sweating muscles. The room was hot and heaving around them and the Lieutenant's Klingon blood was boiling pleasantly, "Definitely, Captain."

The eager women turned in unison towards Naomi, who was approaching them through an excited, parting crowd. The young girl gazed at the Captain and senior officer with astonishment, and with a deep breath she loudly declared, "Return to the ring, competitors!"

B'Elanna caught Tom's eye and laughed, shaking her own head disbelievingly as Tom gesticulated a mostly-serious "This is crazy!" towards her. 

The Captain and the Lieutenant then crossed the threshold once more into the ring. They took their places opposite one another and the cool voice of the computer spoke again over the roaring crowd.

"Round two…"

Naomi's whistle blew.

Torres lunged again towards Janeway, but the Captain turned on her heels. Her body lowered as she raised her right leg high and within an instant, the ball of her foot had connected with the Lieutenant's jaw.

The impact of her forceful kick against its moving target made Kathryn's body recoil slightly, but she landed on her feet, and regained her balance. B'Elanna, however, stumbled backwards, and against her better judgement, the Captain, now facing the Lieutenant and wearing a slight frown, focused her power once more and kicked the Lieutenant hard in the chest.

Torres choked, her unfocused eyes glaring nastily at her opponent, before her body crumpled to the ground. As Kathryn approached her, the Lieutenant swung one leg upwards, narrowly missing Kathryn's head. The Captain took this as the Lieutenant's proffered limb, catching her foot on its way down, and dragging the flailing and mutinous looking Torres out of the ring.

"Janeway scores; Torres One, Janeway One." Confirmed the computer.

As the Above-Average Joes exploded into cheers and applause, the Inky Blinders groaning and more than several crewmembers looking absolutely stunned, the Doctor rushed forwards to examine the Lieutenant. Meanwhile, Paris attempted to weave his way through the crowd, but when he arrived, it was to see the dishevelled and bruised Lieutenant climbing stubbornly to her feet, frantically waving off the Doctor's ministrations.

Naomi rushed towards the Lieutenant, worried that she might need help, but Torres said gently to her, "I am okay, Naomi. I promise."

The young girl looked at the Captain for confirmation, and the Captain nodded.

Kathryn had remained besides B'Elanna on the floor, relieved to hear the Lieutenant cursing beneath her breath, as this meant she had not battered her engineering chief too badly. She now stood facing B'Elanna, her hands on her hips and her untidy hair framing her pink face, catching her breath.

She raised her eyebrows and smiled with notable satisfaction as the Lieutenant finally faced her and wiped her bloodied lip. The anger had gone from B'Elanna's expression, although she worked her jaw awkwardly, the joint painful but not badly damaged.

"I'm glad we're not in Federation space," B'Elanna said, smiling coyly at the Captain and divulging, "I'm having a great time."

Kathryn smiled in agreement. She looked around once more at her joyous, suspiciously bloodthirsty, crew, "Well, when the cat's away…"

"… After six years, I'm glad you finally realise that!" Torres interjected with a nervous laugh, not fully confident of her choice of words.

The Captain gave her a sideways glance, before looking at Seven who stood staring with wide, kind eyes at her from across the noisy room.

B'Elanna turned to look at Seven as well, before both competitors turned to face each other once more.

Torres hesitated, and then allowed herself to speak freely again, lowering her voice slightly and leaning closer to Kathryn, "Do you want to prove to Seven that you can take me out twice?"

The Captain blinked. Her expression then softened and she spoke silkily, "Do you have somewhere better to be, Lieutenant?"

"I think we both do, Captain." Replied Torres with a knowing smile, her aching body longing for the touch of her male partner as much as Kathryn's body was sore for Seven.

"No more head shots please!" Yelled the furious Doctor suddenly from behind Kathryn's ear, causing her to jump.

The Captain turned towards the desperate looking EMH, and nodded obediently.

Ready for the finale, the crowd buzzed and cheered around the female competitors as the high-spirited Naomi ordered, "Into the ring!"

B'Elanna stepped forward over the threshold, followed by Janeway.

"Round Three…" Declared the computer, as both competitors took a moment longer to get into position. They smiled at one another, and Naomi blew the whistle.

Torres gave a mighty battle cry, lunged, and again tackled the fatigued Captain to the ground with a thud.

As Janeway struggled to manoeuvre her body under the weight of the Lieutenant, her arms reaching upwards to try and grab B'Elanna's upper body, the flesh of her forearm was caught between something very sharp. She yelped as Torres sunk her teeth so deeply into her arm that she broke the skin. 

Janeway gritted her teeth to absorb the pain and members of the crowd gasped as she struggled to yank her bloodied arm free from the Lieutenant's grip. Her legs squirmed and kicked beneath the Lieutenant's thighs, and as B'Elanna finally released her jaw, she pummelled one heavy fist into the Captain's gut.

"No, Lieutenant!" Commanded the furious Doctor, but Torres' strike had already had the effect she desired. Janeway was winded and nauseous, and B'Elanna lent down, wrapped her arms tightly around the Captain's waist, and began to lift her from the floor.

Kathryn's legs flailed for a moment before bending inwards. She then began to batter her knees painfully into the Lieutenant's midriff. Torres whined and lost her grip and as Janeway broke free she wrestled her body behind the Lieutenant's, closing her arms so tightly around B'Elanna's waist that the Lieutenant wheezed. 

B'Elanna's head fell forwards, her hands scrambling to loosen the Captain's grip, and as Janeway lifted her and her head fell backwards, Janeway sunk her teeth into the Lieutenant's ear, pinning it sharply and making Torres stiffen and groan in pain.

With difficulty, Kathryn successfully carried the spluttering Lieutenant out of the ring.

Over a deafening applause, the computer announced, "Janeway scores; Torres One, Janeway Two; Winner, Janeway."

As the now speechless Doctor tried to make his way through the crowd towards them from one direction, the relieved Paris and Seven approaching them from the other, and Naomi running to them from across the ring, Janeway pulled the Lieutenant to her feet with one, firm tug.

B'Elanna's ear was bleeding, but she didn't seem to care. She grabbed Kathryn's wrist and pulled her unbitten arm into the air.

"Winner! Kathryn Elizabeth Janeway!" Exclaimed Naomi with rapturous joy. 

Both competitors stood before the exuberant crew, who had moved forwards to fill the space in the ring. 

Both women were panting, dripping in sweat, and had the other woman's blood on her lips and across her grinning teeth.

The Doctor finally stamped right up to the Captain and declared in upmost outrage, "Captain, this is barbaric! What is the matter with you?"

Seven approached as Torres released Janeway's wrist, and she wrapped one arm around her lover's waist.

When Kathryn failed to answer his question, her attention now turning to the tall blonde, the Doctor looked desperately at Seven for an answer, "Seven, you surely could not have encouraged this?"

"No." The Astrometrics Officer replied sternly.

One hand resting upon Seven's loving grip, the crew still jubilant and cheering animatedly around them, Kathryn turned back towards the Doctor and answered patiently, "Fighting is just another way people say hello, Doctor. It is what happens afterwards which is important."

Seven smiled softly, and lowered her head.


	4. La Vita Nuova

The quiet and sterility of Deck 8 unnerved Seven slightly as she paced the brightly lit corridors leading from the turbo lift. The Captain and the Lieutenant were busy being mended and probably condescended to by the Doctor following their violent, opening battle, but Seven had not stayed in Sickbay to observe. Neither had she returned to the Mess Hall for the continuing buffet and merriment. The concern she had felt after learning of Crewman Collins' most recent punishment had not abated, and now her heeled feet were carrying her directly to the crewman's shared quarters.

With the ghost of "protocol" slowly beginning to seep into her consciousness, Seven began to imagine a beautiful but disgruntled Janeway informing her once again that the ship had a chain of command, and that she could not simply visit somebody who had been confined to their quarters without permission.

Seven's eyes widened, her mouth opening as if to object to her own logic, and her steps slowed.

Stopping just meters away from the male, security attendant who stood motionless but alert before the crewman's sealed quarter doors, Seven paused. She tapped her combadge. The officer's head turned towards her as she annunciated clearly, "Seven of Nine to Janeway".

A quiet moment passed as Seven's eyes met with the security guard's.

"Hello, Seven," spoke the Captain's gentle voice, "The good Doctor has nearly finished-"

But the young woman interrupted her before Kathryn had the chance to say anything meant for Seven's ears only, "Captain, I am outside Crewman Collins' shared quarters. I would like to request permission to speak with her."

There was a pause in which the security officer looked critically at the Astrometrics officer, and Seven winced inwardly as she belatedly remembered how much of the crew's resentment towards her resulted from the special allowances and privileges Janeway had granted her throughout the years.

This evening was no different.

"Permission granted. But please do not spend too long with her…"

Seven knew this statement to have two different meanings. That Collins' was not to be entertained for any length of time, and more importantly, that the Captain would be waiting patiently for Seven to return to her quarters, so that the two women could continue their evening.

"Yes, Captain."

With momentarily raised eyebrows and a silent sigh, the security guard turned around and entered his clearance code into the shared quarters small external interface.

The doors opened. Seven stepped forwards and the officer stepped aside, his hands crossed behind his back. 

His eyes followed her inside, but when Seven turned around with a confused expression as it appeared that she was the only occupant of the quarters, the guard entered the code to seal the doors behind her. Turning his back he said to her, "You will be able to exit as normal."

She turned to face forward once more, and immediately felt a sense of claustrophobia.

These quarters were unlike any she had entered before. There was no living area. The space she had entered appeared to be a quarter the size of the Captain's full quarters, but had four, single bunks packed into each corner of the room. There were two doorways and Seven assumed these lead to a bathroom and a closet.

There was no window.

A replicator was placed between two bunks on the right-hand side of the room, there were four, small bedside cabinets, which doubled as tables, and there were more than several discarded uniforms and socks which hadn't found their way to the recycler littering the floor and unmade beds.

'This is how the majority of the crew live?' Seven thought with a small amount of shock, reflecting that her artificially-lit Cargo Bay, even with its random crewman entering in and out, was certainly preferable to this artificially-lit crevice. She had regained enough humanity to realise that personal space was not a triviality of lesser species'.

She noticed various, unidentifiable objects hidden in the shadows under the bunks, as well as small photographs and modest personal effects and decorations across the cluttered cabinet tops and stuck onto the walls.

Her skin began to prickle and she realised that she was becoming quite cold. The environmental control had been altered, or was malfunctioning, in this room. 'Was that what was making the buzzing sound?' Seven thought to herself…

"Computer, where is Crewman Collins?" Seven inquired.

"Crewman Collins is in her quarters." Replied the computer.

The buzzing increased and the artificial light suddenly began to flicker as a soft flow of air began to hit the back of Seven's neck.

She looked upwards, then suddenly sideways as the buzzing suddenly increased close to her ear.

Dark brown eyes with batlike ink markings covering them both stared wildly at Seven. They were so close and unexpected that Seven's muscles spasmed and she stepped backwards.

A young woman with matching, dark brown hair, thick, but falling no lower than her chin, was suspended in midair between Seven and the doors.

Small but strong gusts of air filtered through her biosuit as Seven quickly realised the crewman had managed to adapt and install (assumedly) removable miniature thrusters on to her arms and legs, allowing her to hover like a huge, mammalian insect before the ex-drone.

Gemma's big, brown eyes searched Seven's face as if wanting to memorise every detail of her half-expected visitor, and her catlike body adjusted position, enabling her to slowly circle Seven.

What looked like a small, thin rod came into view, and Seven realised Gemma was levelling this strange object towards her face. Her eyes followed the object before returning back to the crewman, who remained silent, apart from the buzzing required to gain a 360° view of her visitor.

Seven also said nothing, turning slightly to examine the crewman's rather primitive method of transport, which she had nonetheless managed to hone down to a skill. It was innovation typical to Voyager's particular set of engineers, whose creativity was valued in almost equal measure to their Starfleet education.

The Delta quadrant was, after all, the ultimate test of any spacefarers intuition and resourcefulness, and Seven couldn't help but if not be impressed, be rather intrigued. The thin rod, which upon closer inspection, appeared to be made out of some sort of plastic, clearly a replica of something which would otherwise be wooden and intricately decorated, reminded Seven of a composer's baton, only thicker. She decided it was in fact shaped more like part of a tree branch.

Seven stood still, and Gemma hovered again to a halt in front of her, a wry smile now on her face.

To Seven's surprise, she suddenly realised that apart from coin-sized thrusters attached to her palms, forearms, shins and the soles of her feet, Gemma was wearing only a translucent, sheer robe. It was a colour similar to jade, and accompanied simply by a pair of similar coloured knickers, and fluffy, baby pink socks.

The crewman also had a number of bruises, old and new, across the olive skin of her limbs, and even some on her torso and over her ribs.

Her nipples were a purplish brown, and stared tort and intensely at Seven's body, Seven's eyes resting on them for a few moments before turning to gaze more softly into Gemma's face. Her hands tucked neatly behind her back, Seven attempted to speak casually, as if nothing was peculiar about this introduction at all.

"… Crewman Gemma Collins. I am… pleased to meet you."

Gemma's smile became more friendly, although there was a distinct wariness to her eyes, and she briefly and gently inclined to head.

Rearranging her arms and legs once more, the crewman's thrusters slowly reduced speed, and she dropped gracefully to the floor.

She stepped towards the bunk furthest from the quarter doors, sat down and crossed her slim legs, still clutching the baton-like object in her small fist. She looked up towards Seven, and Seven understood herself to be invited to sit on the bunk too.

The Astrometrics officer lowered herself slowly down onto the bunk, her legs together and back straight. She faced Gemma confidently and after a long moment, spoke clearly.

"Please do not question the Captain about her personal relationships again."

"I do not recognise any Captain." Replied Gemma shortly, her voice and temperament matching Seven's own.

Seven blinked, and then continued, "Kathryn Elizabeth Janeway is the Captain of the USS Voyager regardless of whether you recognise her authority or not-"

"Oh, I recognise her authority. I simply dispute her legitimacy."

"That is irrelevant." Answered Seven. She then looked at the sealed doors and frowned.

Gemma glanced towards the sealed doors.

"I have spent nearly 7 years imprisoned by the woman we call 'Captain'…" Continued Gemma thoughtfully.

"And you are likely to spend many more," informed Seven, and Gemma looked back at her in agitation, Seven finishing, "Resistance is… Illogical."

The crewman's eyes widened and she once again searched Seven's face. Seven did not look away, but continued to stare steadily back at Gemma.

"… I know it is illogical," replied Gemma gently, and Seven's brow furrowed as the crewman continued, "But resistance is the only weapon I have."

Seven looked questioningly at Gemma for a few moments longer, and then looked away.

The two women sat in silence for several long moments.

"I am glad that you have come to visit me. I was disappointed if not surprised to learn that I would not meet you at the opening of the tournament. Did you enjoy yourself?"

Seven considered her answer. "It was tolerable."

Gemma smiled and turned her body to fully face her visitor, "Captain Janeway did me the honour of personally removing me from the engineering room and escorting me back to my quarters. In the short time we spent waiting for a security guard to arrive, she told me she would be opening the tournament by fighting B'Elanna…"

Seven gave her a rather surprised look and Gemma continued.

"I think she was trying to make me jealous."

Seven considered Gemma's logic for a moment before replying, "… It is a possibility."

Gemma grinned at her, and Seven responded with a small, honest smile, before looking away.

She felt Gemma's gaze on her once more as her own eyes looked sadly from bunk to bunk.

"You know about my Annie…"

Gemma stated gently, and Seven returned to look nervously at Gemma who was now looking down at her baton, examining its hazel brown, embellished finish.

"This was her favourite colour. Aquamarine." Gemma looked up at Seven, suddenly raising her arms from the bed, allowing the sheer robe to fall like silk around her body. As Seven's eyes rolled once more across the robe, Gemma's semi-exposed figure not too dissimilar from the Captain's, Gemma continued.

"She used to wear a sari which was this colour. Do you know what a sari is?"

Looking back into Gemma's batlike, black-brown eyes, Seven replied, "It is a garment. Traditionally worn by women of human, Indian descent."

Gemma nodded, "Annie, 'Anushka', had long black hair, round lips, similar to yours, golden brown skin, and pale, green eyes. She used to dance for me in her matching sari, and sometimes she would wrap me in it whilst simultaneously undressing herself…"

"… I know." Seven replied slightly uncomfortably, admitting to having acquired this knowledge from her perusal of the crewman's personal logs. Gemma leaned forwards and continued in a soft tone.

"Sometimes she would tie me to the bed, or to a chair, and tease me with her tongue, teeth, or fingertips…"

Seven swallowed and lowered her head to look at her own lap. She knew all too well about the crewman's sexual practices with her long-term partner. Her ex-long-term partner. The ex-Borg had frequently used them as a narrative, or at least as a basis to her own sexual fantasies about the Captain. She had learned to masturbate like a pro to them.

She tried to close her ears, but luckily for her, the crewman did not continue.

After a long pause, Gemma suddenly stood from the bed.

Seven rose too, and slowly faced the wary, and visibly angry young crewman. The blonde felt unwell. She was overcome by desperate sadness for the crewman, who she saw almost like a friend. And her sympathy stretched to all crew members whose lives were so irreparably changed by the decisions of the Caretaker, and the Captain. Such sadness would surely have never been possible, had she not herself discovered such happiness with Kathryn. Happiness she had not learnt was possible until she had met the Captain.

"I am sorry, crewman-"

"No, Seven" responded Gemma quickly in a warning tone, before re-initialising her thrusters. Seven watched as Gemma retreated to a corner of the ceiling, her appearance less comical and more ominous as she hovered again before her, raising her baton delicately in midair.

"I am sorry."

But before Seven could process this statement, ask for clarification on what exactly Gemma was sorry for, or ask what the baton was for, the crewman had turned away from her and curled up like a wounded animal, several meters from the ground.

Seven stood silent. She wanted to say something, she felt she should say something. Feeling a bitter disappointment within herself for her continued lack of understanding of humanity, Seven finally turned and exited the quarters.

She turned to politely and quietly thank the security guard, who said nothing.

A distant memory from her childhood came to the surface of her mind. Fairytales. Fairies. The crewman had turned herself into a fairy, with thrusters instead of wings, and with a replicated wand and instead of a real one.

A frown marked her face all the way back to the Captain's quarters. Crewman Collins certainly was a peculiar sort of human, Seven thought. She then took a few moments to push her concerns for the crewman to the back of her mind for later analysis. At that moment, it was the Captain to whom Seven wanted to give her undivided attention. 'Kathryn Janeway, failed starship Captain. Current space-dwelling community head', thought Seven with a sigh.

She pressed the bell to alert Kathryn of her presence, and then stood for several moments trying hard to ignore her heavy heart. Silently, she chastised herself for ever thinking Kathryn could be a "failure". The Captain functioned on a mixture of guilt-infused adrenaline, bitter, black coffee, and almost superhuman intelligence and intuition. If she was a failure, then she was a failure fully capable of snatching back a monumental win.

There was a reason that Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01 was initially afraid of the human Captain. Janeway was daring, and she who dares, wins.

\---

The doors hissed open in front of the Captain, and her heart ached as she beheld Seven of Nine in her doorway. She felt that truly, she had to be the luckiest woman in existence to welcome such a visitor. 

Smiling gently at the younger woman, she stepped aside to allow Seven entry. Her eyes darkened lustfully as she gazed, mesmerised, at at her Astrometrics officer's curves and beauty.

She may have had the delight of beholding the younger woman on countless occasions, but this time, her desire did not make her ashamed, and she knew that her arousal must be palpable to the ex-drone… As the doors hissed closed, her breaths became more shallow, and her palms began to sweat with anticipation.

Seven did not immediately turn around. The steady thumping of her own heart became slowly interrupted by the thumping of her partner's, the Captain quietly approaching her from behind until she was stood only an inch away, the younger woman's elegant back being a work of art she desired to appreciate fully.

Seven's initial sadness dissipating and being replaced with inevitable sexual desire, her pulse began to slowly rise. She could feel the Captain's eyes bore in and out of her, surveying her figure as if deciding where first to bite, and Seven appreciated and enjoyed the Captain's attention.

Her hands began to ache as desire flooded every inch of her person, the anticipation of continuing their afternoon's lovemaking having made Seven now tortuously horny, it's still a little embarrassed.

After several moments during which Seven wrestled her cursed and highly illogical embarrassment to the back of her brain, she felt herself becoming unwrapped. Her eyes widened and she held her breath…

The Captain slowly unzipped her young officer's biosuit and discovered the pale, peachy flesh which lay beneath. Seven felt Kathryn's warm breath as the Captain exhaled over her skin, and she smiled softly.

Feeling smooth fingertips beginning to trace down her bare back, the Captain touching the area for the first time, Seven's breath caught in her throat, a shiver sweeping across her skin and up the back of her neck.

Making an effort to breathe steadily, her pupils wide and open mouth dry, Kathryn allowed her free hand to rest gently on the younger woman's hip as the zip continued to unfasten further and further down Seven's back.

In no time at all, the Captain was facing a long strip of exposed, glowing skin. There was a pause, and Seven, uncertain of Janeway's thoughts, placed one hand softly upon the one Kathryn had placed on her side. The Captain's eyes moved slowly to Seven's elegant fingers, which stroked her skin, encouragingly.

Closing her lips and taking a deep inhalation of breath through her nose, Kathryn's hand slid from the younger woman's grip. She stepped forwards and encased the younger woman in her arms, her hands roaming slowly over Seven's still covered torso and breasts.

The fabric of the biosuit made her skin tingle as her lips came into contact with Seven's exposed skin. Dragging her teeth over the younger woman's flesh and kissing her once hotly, Kathryn grunted, and grinned, her crotch pulsating and hands each coming to rest upon the swell of the younger woman's breasts.

Seven's eyelids closed as her head dropped backwards a little. The Captain's touch was tender, and Seven wanted it all…

As she stood massaging Seven's warm flesh, her body pressing against the younger woman's back and her hips beginning to press more firmly into her Astrometrics officer's firm ass, Seven's shallow breathing became more and more audible. She could feel her legs weakening, and as she felt the Captain slide her tongue from her mid back to between her shoulder blades, Seven caught Kathryn's squeezing hands with her own.

For several long moments she held the older woman against her flesh. She delighted as the Captain massaged her breasts tenderly, and then more vigourously, the older woman's delicate fingertips locating hand softly tweaking her younger officer's hardening nipples through their fabric

Knowing exactly what she wanted, her eyes glistening with wonder and desire, Seven finally slid from Kathryn's grip and turned around in a swift but steady movement to face the older woman.

Janeway was very flushed. Her hands had not completely let go of the younger woman, each grasped Seven's hips as she stared intently up into the crystal blue eyes of the younger woman, Kathryn inwardly marvelling that she had never wanted anything so much in her life.

Her eyes falling onto Seven's breasts, the younger woman reacted immediately, her dry, open lips opening a little wider as she looked down at her own body, her arms reaching upwards and her fingers hooking around the hem of her collar.

She desperately wanted to be naked. The wetness between her legs needed to make contact with another human being. With her Captain. She needed to ride her pussy against the Captain. She needed Janeway's body's firmness, and its softness, and she needed it all over her, and inside of her.

Seven began to pull the biosuit from her hot skin, and Kathryn took a small step backwards. Her hands took the younger woman's semi-dressed, and then undressed arms, holding on gently. As the younger woman's silky skinned neck, chest, and blossoming, pale pink breasts topped with strawberry red, erect nipples, burst into view, the Captain's became overcome with heat.

Her pussy throbbing, Janeway took a small step backwards, releasing the younger woman's arms as Seven deftly slid her long legs out of her garment, her thumb nails scratching her skin with the haste of removal.

Seven's body betrayed such beauty that Kathryn could not help but reflect upon how the late, great painters and poets of Earth would be at a loss as to how to honour such perfection through oil paints or inks. Even her own holographic friend, Leonardo da Vinci, would say it could not be done. 

Her young officer was mystical; luminous, curvaceous and yet slim, and with skin softer than silk. The Captain wanted to gently wrap her body around the younger woman and fuck her until the silkiness of her own juices were running freely through her slit, Seven's warm skin rubbing over her clit making her body alight with passion. Such a thought did cause her a pang of guilt… But…

Her heightened senses aware of the Captain's intense arousal, the dryness of Kathryn's open lips and her unblinking, midnight blue eyes fixed upon Seven's naked skin, the younger woman brought her Captain into an embrace, softly holding her cheek as she began to kiss her Captain hotly.

Kathryn groaned immediately. The feeling of Seven's warm, cushiony lips over hers, Seven's soft tongue moistening her mouth as they kissed deeply and seemingly without end, making the Captain eventually gasp in exhilaration, and then giggle. The Captain was being naughty, and she knew it. The sound was beautiful to Seven's ears, and smiling, she hooked her free arm around Kathryn's waist, pressing her body and breasts family into the Captain's own.

This was stimuli so intense that the Captain felt she may fail to tolerate it. She was drowning.

Her body melting beneath her uniform inside the younger woman's intense embrace, Kathryn ran her hands shakily over Seven's bare, warm back. The muscles of her arms tightening to hold the young woman close, adrenaline quickly began flooding her veins and her weakness was replaced with pure, primal instinct. Kathryn's fingertips sunk into the flesh of Seven's back and dragged downwards, the younger woman's breath hitching as she broke their kiss, curving her back and dropping her blonde head backwards.

The younger woman's grip on her loosening momentarily, Kathryn's pink, swollen lips and hot, open mouth began to drag over Seven's upper chest. The Captain caught the swell of one, large, soft breast in her small palm and Seven whimpered, one hand sinking into the auburn depths of Kathryn's loose hair as the Captain's wet mouth engulfed her nipple and the flesh of her breast, sucking and biting with rabid desire.

Moaning with satisfaction she could never have anticipated, her rosy lips curved into a gentle smile as the Captain's hunger unravelled into a warm and wet ravishing of both of her breasts. Kathryn's soft hands and slim fingers massaged each breast in turn and caused the younger woman to release more and more warm liquid into the small tangle of blonde hair between her legs.

Feeling the Captain's hands suddenly depart her chest and slide strongly onto the curves of her ass, Kathryn's teeth gently biting the nipple of her right breast as the older woman began to pull Seven's crotch into her own, her fingertips kneading her gluteals, and further stimulating her pining clitoris, Seven grunted and released her body from Kathryn's feverish attack, turning the Captain around and breathlessly locating and unclasping Kathryn's uniform.

The Captain's breathing was hot and heavy. Her bright pink face glistened with perspiration and her head turned to watch Seven from over her shoulder, her arms automatically pulling swiftly out of her sleeves as Seven removed and dropped her command jacket to the floor. The younger woman then slid her hands underneath her Captain's grey, Starfleet issue shirt, and Kathryn grinned with savage excitement.

Seven's soft, warm hands gliding hungrily over her skin made the Captain sigh dreamily. Her torso contracted under the stimulus, her nipples hardening with a pinch as Seven's long fingers finally found their way into her bra, the younger woman beginning to massage and squeeze her small breasts tenderly.

Her Astrometrics officer's lips now sliding up the side of her neck, Seven's warm breath warming her skin as the younger woman groaned desirously into her Captain's flesh, Kathryn turned her head once more, her eyelids fluttering closed, and offered more of her neck to the younger woman. In that moment, Janeway wanted only to feel Seven hold and love her.

The younger woman's fingertips now playing with Kathryn's nipples, her hot tongue drawing slowly across her Captain's salty skin, Kathryn reached to hold Seven's forearms, whispering gently, "Will you come to bed?"

A sharp pinch on Kathryn's ear as the now brilliantly horny Seven bit her lover teasingly, followed by a swift rearrangement of hands, one disappearing beneath the hem of the Captain's trousers, and Kathryn was quickly whimpering. 

Her slick centre had been invaded, her clitoris now being plucked and pressed around and under Seven's warm fingertips as the younger woman pinched her Captain's nipple hard, whispering playfully into Kathryn's ear, "Will you come… Captain…?"

Her knees almost folding as her pussy filled with electricity, Kathryn made a high-pitched whine. Seven of Nine was generating desire so intense that her jaw soon dropped open and she released a cry. It was a sound so dripping in sex that Seven felt herself almost climax. Kathryn firmly clutched Seven's hand against her crotch, desperate not to let her clit lose contact even for a moment from Seven's skin, and moaning shrilly, the Captain delighted as she rode the wave of passion that Seven had now given her twice that day.

Seven's naked body was pining. She pressed her pussy into Kathryn's ass and experienced delicious stimulation across her centre. Her Captain's passion, and the feeling of the older woman's still clothed body tight against her own being in themselves a terrific thrill for her. And she was so ready for more.

Mind foggy with lust and teeth bared, the naked younger woman holding her tight against her muscular but still so feminine body, Kathryn panted as she continued to grind into Seven's torturous fingers for several more long moments. With a strained voice and a gentle smile, Kathryn finally teased, "You like to take me from behind…"

Seven grinned against Kathryn's pink neck before kissing her Captain's skin tenderly.

A new excitement climbing within her as her mind became more focused, Kathryn gently slowed her grind. She then steadily untangled herself from Seven's grip and turned around to face her.

The younger woman's skin was flushed and shimmering softly under the artificial light. Strands of hair had come loose from their pin, and she now stood with one arm holding the other, a look of unbelievable innocence in her large, shining eyes… The playful smile on her lips, however, the sultry swinging of her breasts,  
and the clear moisture which twinkled between the open lips of her golden pussy revealed a young woman who was enjoying herself, and innocent of precisely nothing.

Looking longingly once more into those baby blue eyes, Kathryn's hands travelled to the lower hem of her own shirt and Seven's smile widened, her eager eyes following the progression of Kathryn's fingers as the Captain slowly pulled off her shirt to reveal the slim and svelte figure beneath.

Seven loosened her arms and stepped forward, the Captain's fingertips now delicately unfastening her black bra. The garment fell to the floor besides the sweat-dampened shirt, and Seven beheld her topless and stunning, older lover.

Kathryn's breasts were small, and they stared provocatively at the younger woman, nipples dark pink and daring. Her pale skin was flushed, but Seven's eyes could still register many freckles across Kathryn's chest, sprinkled over her breasts, and down her torso and arms.

The younger woman's eyes falling dreamily over every inch of her exposed skin, Kathryn's breathing deepened and she slowly began to unfasten her trousers.

Seven stepped forwards and Kathryn paused. The women stood with their breasts almost touching, their mingled warm breaths and aromas making them each lightheaded and their eyes briefly meeting once more. Seven then suddenly bent her knees, and clutching the backs of Kathryn's slim thighs, the younger woman came face-to-face with her Captain's partially hidden, black knickers.

Temptation fighting a losing battle to restraint and control, Janeway having rightly predicted Seven's next move, and a smile forming across her lips as she considered the generosity of her lover, Kathryn said softly, "No, Seven… "

The younger woman looked up at her Captain, slightly surprised, but did not change her position. She did, however, loosen her grip to allow Kathryn's trousers to fall from her hips, her crystal blue eyes following their progression to the floor, and with a dry, open mouth, she watched as her Captain pulled down her knickers.

The scent of Kathryn's wet pussy, and the warmth it radiated, were almost too much for the younger woman. Seven desired nothing more but to plant her face into it, to smell and to taste her Captain's sex, and to enter inside of her mouth first.

But before the temptation caused Seven to make a move, contrary to the Captain's wishes as any move may have been, Kathryn's naked form was walking away from her and entering the doorway into her sleeping quarters.

Seven stood, an eyebrow raised in response to the Captain taking control of the evening's events. After a brief moment, she followed Kathryn purposefully towards and through the doorway.

Kathryn sat with her slim, bare legs crossed and her hands softly gripping the edge of the mattress. Her blankets had been tossed unceremoniously to the floor, and she looked up at Seven with an expression nothing less than mischievous.

Seven stood still before the doorway, her hands now behind her back, her expression unscrutable.

Kathryn smiled, laughing softly at her Astrometrics officer who seemed to have appeared in response to a communicator call. She shuffled backwards onto the opposite side of the bed and lay on her side to display her lithe body to the younger woman. Reaching her elegant arm outwards to gently tap the mattress before her, the Captain beckoned the beautiful younger woman to join her.

Seven's lips opened and she felt her heart ache. She walked forwards and Kathryn grinned craftily as she watched her young officer lower her stunning body onto the Starfleet-issue grey sheet besides her.

A little awkwardly, Seven tried to arrange her body to face her Captain's, and her confidence seemed to drop a little. Kathryn shuffled forwards towards her and held the side of her face, arranging the grey, plush pillow comfortably beneath the younger woman's head, and smiling lovingly towards her. Seven smiled back, and embracing Kathryn's affection for her, reached forward herself to place one hand upon the Captain's upper torso, just beneath her breasts.

Kathryn pulled her body forwards and lowered her lips onto the younger woman's. They kissed softly. Kathryn's hand moved across Seven's hair and unclipped it, continuing to kiss her gently as she loosened ribbons of blonde hair across the pillow, her fingers coming to rest in the depths of it as she held her young officer's head.

Seven sighed, shivers trickling down the back of her neck and from the points of Kathryn's fingertips. She moved her hands upwards onto the Captain's breast and massaged it. With a soft moan, Kathryn moved her body across and Seven opened her legs to receive her Captain.

Smooth stomachs coming to rest on top of one another, Kathryn resisted the urge to begin a hard fuck. She instead took a playful moment to arrange Seven's golden hair around her face, curls coming to rest on the pillow like rays of sunshine around a heavenly body.

Seven's legs, meanwhile, began to close around her Captain's and her hands began to caress the long lengths of smooth, warm skin which lay on top of her. A curtain of dark, auburn hair fell across the side of her face as Kathryn moaned gently, lowering her head and curving her back a little as she pushed her breasts softly over Seven's own. Seven felt herself become wetter, and pulling Kathryn's ass towards her, the two women ground their crotches into one another gently.

Hungry sighs, straining lips, wondering hands and pressing breasts ensued as each woman massaged their body into the other's with steadily increasing energy. Both Seven and her Captain remained patient, careful to enjoy every stimulus, every sound, their long awaited love-making now finally upon them.

There were many things Kathryn wanted to do now that she had Seven in her bed, but all too aware they could be interrupted at any moment by communicator calls or perhaps even an accursed red alert, Kathryn enjoyed their passionate embrace for a moment longer, before preparing herself to get down to business.

She sat up… straddling Seven in the process and and their mingled moisture deepened. Her Astrometrics officer smiled and pulled herself up onto her elbows, her wet, open lips and expression eager for her Captain to continue. Kathryn cocked her head, she felt confident in the younger woman's attraction to her older body. Indeed, the pinkness of her body and her radiance were making the younger woman gaze at her shamelessly, the young blonde biting her lip lustfully.

Wanting so much to fuck Seven against the mattress, Kathryn lowered her head, her jaw opening as she began to scoot her body downwards, her legs coming together, and her hands finally coming to rest at the tops of Seven's open thighs.

Surprised about her Captain's plans, Seven looked straight into Kathryn's dark eyes and smiled excitedly.

Janeway was now poised to minister directly to the younger woman's centre, and Seven slowly began to lower her head and to make her body more relaxed and comfortable.

Beginning to feel her Captain's smooth hands gliding gently across the skin of her inner thighs, Seven momentarily stilled. She took an unsteady intake of breath, her heart thumping alarmingly.

She decided to reach her one hand across to touch Kathryn's fingers, and immediately felt a little calmer. She gripped the sheet with her other hand, and slowly closed her eyes, preparing for what was surely to come.

Kathryn wasn't going to keep either of them waiting. She faced Seven's pussy with wide eyes, her jaw making small movements as if resisting the sudden urge to open wide and dive tongue-first into her younger officer's labia. With blood rushing to her own crotch, and to her lips, her soft hands slid gently around the curves of Seven's thighs, and she slowly lowered her nose and mouth into Seven's pussy.

Unable to resist this particular temptation, Kathryn closed her eyes and took a steady, deep, intake of breath through her nostrils. And again, unable to stop herself, she moaned passionately over Seven's moisture, the smell of Seven's centre being more delicious than she could ever have anticipated… 

Having felt Kathryn's nose touch her clitoris and come to rest in the depths of her sex, and upon filling the cool sensation of air being drawn inwards, Seven suddenly realised what her Captain had done. Seven felt her vagina choke and she forced herself to have a steadying intake of breath herself, her arousal nearly having peaked. The Captain wanted her so much, and this thought was so exhilarating.

A slippery something then began to wheedle its way in and out of the different folds between her legs, and Seven gritted her teeth, hissing as she felt the oral sex begin.

Kathryn's mouth was hot, her tongue strong and determined, and together with her gloriously soft lips, Seven felt at once powerless and all-powerful, the quickly building ecstasy licking through her forcing grunts of passion through her open mouth. Her fingers entangled in her Captain's thick hair, her free fingertips gripping the mattress for strength, the young woman choked back orgasm as at once she felt two, lithe fingers sink inside of her and rapidly pump between her tightening vaginal walls.

Seven dug her heels into the mattress and squealed. It was a sound Kathryn had not expected and her wet lips stretched into a wide smile. She finally took the young woman's clitoris directly between her lips and sucked it gently, her tongue rubbing rhythmically against it, and Seven convulsed against her flesh, whining feverishly as orgasm finally destroyed, and remade her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I haven't updated this in a while and I appreciate anybody who has returned to this story, and of course, I welcome any new readers :-)


	5. One or More Snakes

The image of a woman's back flickered silently into existence.

The white skin glowed grey in the dim luminescence, and hair of indistinguishable colour began to fall from the briefly hairless head.

Narrow limbs appeared and joined seamlessly into the inanimate structure.

A continual, poor photonic projection revealed that the tiny device which was hooked to the bicep of one of the naked arms was either faulty, or not Starfleet issue.

Indeed, the only mobile emitter known by many to exist was currently running the EMH #1's complex program on another deck…

Nevertheless, the holographic woman was being successfully projected, and was beginning to flex her muscles.

She turned her head left, and then right, interested in gaining her bearings in this new, and dark place.

But as she began to turn around, a booted heel swung upwards and crunched in between her shoulder blades.

She collapsed to the floor. Her long, dark hair covered her face, her weakened muscles shook, and her low-grade mobile emitter caused her projection to flicker more persistently.

She said nothing, but slowly attempted to stand.

Footsteps broke the silence and the figure of a female engineer approached the fallen hologram.

As she bent down towards her, her boots squeaked, and the hologram recoiled.

The holo-woman, unclothed and vulnerable, was permitted to slowly raise her head, and look into the eyes of her aggressor.

\---

She was walking on air.

The Captain's past six days of life had been filled with more intimacy than she had experienced in decades.

Drifting along Deck Three to take her place on the bridge, the shy smile upon her lips faltered. The images of her lover's naked body, and the memory of Seven's taste melting away, to be replaced by the frosty glances and glares she had received by more than several crewmembers that week.

It was as if she had ordered the destruction of the Caretaker's array for a second time. She was hated, by a small number of her crew anyway, and this knowledge disturbed her.

During sex she could forget about it. She would enter another world with Seven, and afterwards she would be so happy and at peace that she had begun to no longer recognise her own self.

Seven would actually be competing in this week's community challenge, but Kathryn would have to watch from afar. Crewman Collins was no longer confined to quarters, and the Captain wanted to make sure she could monitor the young woman's and the rest of her crew's activities from the ship's control station.

She had twice that morning already asked the computer the location of the crewman. Twice the computer had confirmed that Crewman Collins was in Main Engineering, and Lieutenant Torres had confirmed.

The Captain entered the turbo lift.

"Bridge" she commanded with a quiet voice. Her head was lowered. In her mind she was looking down a dark tunnel. '… What will happen next?' She asked her conscience. Admitting to herself that she was frightened the crewman would try to bully or manipulate Seven in some way.

The lift doors opened and after a fraction of a second's hesitation, the inclination to request Collins location once more tempting her almost into action, she stepped out onto the bridge.

"And there was me thinking you had snuck off to watch the game… Without me, of course…" 

Chakotay's warm voice came from the security station. He raised his head briefly from the control panels and smiled at his Captain. 

Pushing her troubles to one side and feigning confidence, she smiled slyly. She thought of her lover, and their last night's lovemaking, and dreamily replied, "… I've already seen it all."

The Commander choked. 

It wasn't news to anybody aboard Voyager that their resident ex-drone had been frequenting the Captain's quarters during the quiet hours of the gamma shift.

But Kathryn's new and apparent confidence in her romantic status was news to the Commander.

At least, she wanted him to believe she was confident. Her agonised look of guilt as Chakotay dared to look up again from the tactical station told the Commander that in truth, the Captain was struggling to know what to say. Or how to act.

Unable now to make eye contact with the Commander, Kathryn immediately realised that sexually-nuanced comments such as that reply were certainly not the way to go. Certainly not yet, anyway.

He smiled at her kindly and continued his work. Nobody had heard their exchange, and the Commander was smart and sensitive enough not to address Kathryn's faux pas whilst still on the bridge.

Her shambolic confidence threatening to crumble further at any moment, the Captain straightened her uniform and her expression. She looked imperiously around at the sparsely populated bridge and tried to focus.

She was the Captain of a starship, the leader of a small community, but boy, could she do with a friend right now. But her best friends were back on Earth. And the Commander, although a very dear friend, was inappropriate to share girl-talk with.

"Initialising livestream to Holodeck One"

The well-timed voice of the computer saved Kathryn from any further self-pity.

The bridge crew turned as one towards the dark viewscreen.

\---

"That is just water, isn't it… It isn't something disgusting, like crude oil…?"

Tom's anxious voice broke through the various other mutterings in the jostling darkness. 

He was stood close to his two best friends. He was nervous, but grateful that neither B’Elanna nor Harry would be participating in this new challenge.

Still stunned by what had transpired in the first event of the community games, their three pairs of eyes looked upwards towards the lattice of squirming and contorting holographic water channels arranged into an enormous, shining black brain which floated ghoulishly in front of them.

Throughout the crowd there was a collective feeling of disbelief, and alarm.

Science Officer Ensign Kitty Willis had been the architect of this dense and surely doom-ridden holographic entrapment. And all any of the spectators knew was that the maze, of sorts, was much bigger on the inside.

B'Elanna grimaced. The thought of being sucked through potentially suffocating, black corridors with no weapon with which to escape, and surely only limited oxygen with which to breathe made her Klingon blood run cold.

Determined however to hide her own feelings of apprehension, she turned to face her non-Klingon partner and teased, "Kitty designed it to look terrifying, but it is actually completely safe. That is, if she remembered to keep the safety controls switched on. I know she was tempted not to, considering the calibre of competitors involved…"

Harry and Tom, whose previously horrified looks had morphed into ones of simple dumbfoundment, turned wide-eyed towards the Lieutenant. Shrugging, she elaborated, "An ex-Borg and a Vulcan -"

"And two humans!" Tom contested.

"Hey, we know one of those humans doesn't deserve to live…" B’Elanna said pointedly, crossing her arms in judgement.

Tom heaved a sigh before asserting, "Which one of us is really innocent of anything? Well, except Harry here" he reasoned, clapping his troubled friend on the back.

"B’Elanna," Harry interjected seriously, "Do you know if the safety controls are on or not?"

Torres pouted and shook her head in mock ignorance.

After a quick glance at Tom and then back up at the dark spectre before them, Harry's hand hesitated over his combadge. Groaning, he began to strong-arm his way through the crowd towards the control interface at the holodeck doors.

B’Elanna smiled before quietly revealing to Tom, "Of course the safeties are on. Half my engineers have been working on this battle."

And with amused smiles, the couple turned away from the hologram and made their way through the crowd to retrieve Harry.

\---

A quarter of an hour later, the already tightly squeezed crowd had gathered more spectators. The collective excitement and apprehension had made the crowd giddy, and desperate for the game to commence.

Two, large holographic screens had appeared above and behind them. Each displayed livestreams of the similarly restless, large crowd of crewmembers watching from the mess hall, and also the crew watching from the bridge.

"Naomi, is it time yet? The commander is quivering at his station."

The voice of the Captain was almost inaudible above the baiting crowds in both the holodeck and the mess hall. She spoke from her perch at the edge of her seat, her hands clasping and unclasping nervously between her open knees. 

Chakotay's head was still lowered as he grinned once more. He was aware that it was in fact the Captain who was quivering in her seat and not him. She was nervous, and the Commander thought it was adorable.

Meanwhile, Samantha Wildman looked upwards from her science station on the bridge and looked eagerly towards the display screen. For once it did not display the long, star-spangled road to home, but instead, an arena shining with lights and movement on Holodeck One. 

She noticed her daughter waving from a platform along the middle of the right-hand side of the holodeck. An attentive Neelix was standing with a padd in the shadows behind her, and two accompanying crewmen stood besides him.

… Naomi turned to Neelix, who was making some last-minute checks with the engineer and science officer. 

After a few moments, Neelix and the two crewmen nodded in affirmation towards the young girl, and she gave a thumbs up towards the Captain.

Naomi stepped forwards into the centre of the light and opened her mouth.

At that moment, the Doctor appeared instantly at her side.

His eyes widened suddenly as he registered the giant, floating black tangle directly in front of them, and suppressing his horror into silent scrutiny, he narrowed his eyes and began to scan the rest of the scene upon the holodeck.

After a few moments, he turned to look down at the girl staring up at him.

"Don't be worried, Doctor" said Naomi softly, her concern for the safety of the   
competitors having similarly spiked after seeing the 'brain' for herself.

"… I'm not worried about them…" replied the Doctor bluntly, turning to look down at the crowd below them, and then up at the livestreams, "I worry about you, and the example the crew, and I'm afraid to say, the Captain, are setting."

"… Are you planning a mutiny, Doctor?" Asked Naomi, and the Doctor's head slung irritably back at her. She smiled cleverly back up at him.

"I -" started the Doctor, but Naomi turned away from him. Her fingers moved to the hidden microphone in her dress uniform folds, and as her eyes scanned the four competitors on the platform to her upper right, their bodies in shadow and faces invisible, she spoke gently, but with amplification which rumbled through the holo-arena… 

"Ladies and gentlemen…"

The competitors shifted in the darkness, raising their heads and standing to attention. 

The young girl stood confidently, now facing the three crowds. 

She took a deep breath, grinned widely, opened her arms and declared, "Welcome to the second battle of Voyager's Official Community Games!"

Bright light dazzled the roaring and whistling spectators as the bodies of the four competitors were suddenly illuminated by a thin haze of sparkling, golden light.

The separate platforms on which the two teams stood were elevated high above the floating, black mass below.

Each competitor wore a unique look of determination, or resignation, and as the delighted crowds cheered and applauded, three enormous display screens flickered into life behind and slanting around the sides of the two teams.

The loud and carrying voice of the computer then began to speak.

"Voyager Community Games. Battle number two. Battle competitors: Lessing, Noah James Rupert, Takahashi, Aiko Kimiko, Mister Tuvok, Seven of Nine Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01."

The view from the competitor's platform was intimidating. The holodeck had been programmed to take the shape of a small tunnel. The competitors stood alone at the top, the haze of light distorting their view but not their perception of the distance and sound underneath. Naomi and the referees and engineers stood in the middle, on level with the holographic maze itself. And the spectators in attendance stood in a jostling scrum in a dark pit at the bottom, the sight of them being mostly but not entirely obstructed by the black holo-matter.

Representing the Inky Blinders, Seven of Nine, and ex-Equinox science officer, Noah Lessing. Standing side by side in their Starfleet issue bathing suits, each felt vulnerable before the crew who stood below them, and before those observing from around the ship.

Seven's grey swimming costume, which had been medically adjusted and approved by the Doctor prior to the event, left nearly as little to the imagination as Noah's tight, grey trunks.

They eagerly awaited the event's conclusion, whether it ended in a win or a loss. Neither was in their comfort zone.

Their eyes fixed upon the black mass of contorting holo-matter which was suspended around six meters beneath them. 

Two large, dark mouths into the holo-lattice opened for them in welcome, and they each grimaced. 

Tuvok and Takahashi stood on a platform to their immediate left. They wore similar swimming gear but looked substantially more confident than their Inky Blinder challengers.

Each stared unflinchingly into the mouth which had opened up underneath to receive them. The two security officers were focused, and ready to win.

Above-Average Joe's and Inky Blinder members alike each cheered enthusiastically from the crowd as the two, huge screens which slanted around the sides of each team began to livestream the view from each respective mouth into the now lightly pulsating brain.

It would be from these screens that the crowds would be able to view the progress of their team members, and their competitors.

"The name of the game: Gone Fishing. Description: Each team will have one chance to retrieve the Singing Seabass" continued the computer.

The enormous screen suspended behind the two teams displayed a glittering, golden seabass, silently singing a merry tune of an unknown composition. It was surrounded by matrices of grey lines upon a black background which illustrated the routes each team must take to arrive at its location.

Four dots at the top of the screen, two blue, and two red, indicated the current positions of each of the four competitors upon their platforms. Seven and Noah were blue, Tuvok and Aiko red.

Miranda Gilmour, similarly of the Equinox, and Vorik stood wearing headsets at individual, holographic workstations on the opposite side of the tunnel to Naomi, Neelix, and the two crewmen.

Seven heard a member of the crowd shout out her own name in encouragement (the war-like cry sounding like it belonged to B'Elanna Torres), and as she glanced downwards, she noticed Gilmour offer up a small smile to Lessing.

'The Equinox…' Seven suddenly realised.

Her preoccupied mind registering belatedly that the crew which had kidnapped her, threatened her life and taken the lives of members of an innocent alien race, had finally been allowed to take part in the ship's recreational activities.

Captain Janeway had mentioned it weeks ago…

The computer spoke again. Spotlights spun across the walls of the holodeck, reflecting off the eager faces of the crowd and organisers.

"Rules: Each team must navigate the lattice, and complete the challenges, without the use of holographic programme altering computer commands, or illegal tricorders."

'It was alleged that the Captain had tried to kill this man…' Seven continued to ponder silently.

"Assistant referees: Gilmour, Miranda Fiona; Mister Vorik"

Seven turned her head towards Noah. He wore an ink splatter much like her own; enormous and unstylised. Evidence, perhaps, of his similar, unconsenting initiation into the Inky Blinder's.

His expression was stoic. The Crewman was probably more self-conscious than she was to be participating in these community games, Seven reasoned.

He turned to look back into Seven's large, shining eyes.

Seven did not feel anger. 

To be human was to be imperfect. And as a former Borg drone, although she had not consciously chosen to commit acts of murder and aggression, she nonetheless would always feel ashamed… As surely Crewman Lessing would for his human weakness.

"… To our success…" 

The ex-Borg proffered her hand. 

It was an awkward moment for them both. An awkward situation. 'Someone had planned this…' Seven thought with a sinking feeling, believing she knew who that someone might be. And guessing that that someone's intentions would have been less than friendly.

Noah raised his arm, and they shook hands.

The pair looked forwards. Noah's expression was unchanged. Seven's expression had hardened. They each knew that Gemma had wanted them to meet, and neither was happy to be toyed with in this manner.

Simultaneously regarding the restless crowd, they each looked towards the display screen showing the bridge crew, and the Captain.

… The Captain stared back at them both.

She felt peculiar. Cold. Worried.

"Shit…" Kathryn murmured, her fingers now curling upon her thighs, her back straight and eyes wide, aware, finally, of at least part of Collins' plan.

\---

It wasn't water. It was weightlessness. On Naomi's whistle, Seven and Noah had dived, and as their bodies were buffeted upon entry into the holographic substance, each now felt a soft pressure keeping them suspended within the dark mass.

The entrance was illuminated by translucent, silvery metallic walls, and as the Inky Blinders swam through the inky darkness, hundreds of tiny lights swam around them, like dust motes in a breeze.

Having been prior-warned that they would only find oxygen within the camouflaged cracks of the smooth holographic walls, each competitor was equipped with a small penalty button around their wrist…

"The penalty button will enable each team to exchange a time delay for oxygen. It will also enable competitors to forfeit the game, if they desire" explained the computer helpfully as the hugely noisy and excited crowd watched their team mates appear as if floating in the vacuum of space.

The mysterious world inside the black brain was breathtaking, and displayed the remarkable skill and artistry of its designer, Ensign Willis. 

The two, large slanting display screens showed the four competitors finding their bearings within the limitless darkness, and there were many awed intakes of breath, and some giggling as each team tried to guess what to do next.

Inside the brain, Seven could not help but feel disquieted. 

Everything was silent. She could no longer hear the wails and adulation of the crowd. They were suspended like enormous celestial bodies in a pool of stars. Her body, once again, appeared grey, and mottled. And she was cold.

The feeling of Noah touching her arm startled her, but he wore a look of patience and resolve. Similarly, he appeared darker, and slightly ill. 

He pointed downwards, to a point of darkness where no stars shone, but where each could see the thin, gleaming outline of a control interface. 

Each pulled their knees inwards and dove once more into the black.

\---

Realigning force fields and rapidly changing photonic imaging caused the brain to ripple and contort, the progression of the four competitors within its deceptively large depths forcing it to twist and turn like an oily Rubiks cube.

As it began to swell and appear more like a great, black digestive tract, one which might consume each competitor whole if they did not find a way to the fish, and to freedom, the spectators gritted their teeth and clung to one another's limbs.

The red and blue dots showed that Tuvok and Takahashi were already in the lead.

They had not hesitated in the seemingly black oblivion within the brain's walls, but scrutinised each corner of the darkness immediately upon entry, swimming as one towards the glimmer of a distant display screen barely moments after diving in.

Easily solving the mathematical equation which served as their password into the brain's depths, they had entered into a second and immediately more challenging chamber.

The Above-Average Joes members cheered in approval, the crowd's eyes glittering with the flashes of bright light flying around this second chamber, lights which now concealed the second interface from the two security officers.

Tuvok and Takahashi then appeared to each suck blood from the walls of the chamber, each having noticed almost imperceptible, tiny red gashes in the silver and sparkling sheets of force field, and trusting these peculiar looking red marks to be the aforementioned oxygen supplies.

They were surrounded by shooting stars, and after absorbing several mouthfuls of oxygen, their dark eyes proceeded to scan the oblong vicinity for signs of a second control interface…

Torres scowled from the lightning-fast AAJ team to her own.

Seven was rapidly solving the mathematical puzzle displayed on their entrance interface herself, and the two were able to proceed through a narrow opening.

The Lieutenant spoke up, snarling into Tom's ear through the various thumps and hollerings of the crowd, "Great, so Seven is just going to do all the work herself and that worthless sack of targ shit Lessing is just going to tag along and claim half the credit?"

"What credit? You guys are already losing," Tom scoffed, continuing slowly, "And it's called 'teamwork', B'Elanna…"

She bared her teeth and looked at him in disgust . Tom glanced sideways at her.

After a long moment, he spoke again, "Remember, the Captain saw fit to integrate Lessing into this crew. Just like she did you, and me."

Torres continued to glare at him, but Tom ignored her. He resumed watching the notably less violent second battle/ time trial.

The crowd whooped and roared around them; Takahashi had finally glimpsed the hidden display screen and had made a beeline for it, Tuvok on her tail.

Finally turning back to his affronted half-Klingon partner, who had just spluttered something out about not killing alien lifeforms in order to improve propulsion, he spoke again, more quietly and with kindness, "Come on, B'Elanna. Which of us isn't responsible for a death?"

Wanting to leave, but also wanting to stay, wanting to witness Seven of Nine compete, and being reminded of the judgement she had once regularly aimed at the former drone, B'Elanna remained silent. She wasn't innocent herself. She had killed before, many times. But every time she had killed, she had done so honourably. 

She had unfairly given Seven a hard time, for a long time, about being ex-Borg. But her hatred of Lessing was different. Lessing and the rest of his crew had chosen to commit multiple despicable acts of cruelty. They were not robots controlled by vinculums or central plexes.

Their dishonour was created when, as individuals, they decided to execute members of a peaceful race.

Tom was wrong, she brooded. Neither Noah Lessing, nor any of his former crewmembers, had any place being part of Voyager's crew.

Her angry eyes followed Noah as he swam behind Seven into their own chamber of shooting stars. 

Unknowingly, Lessing turned his face directly towards the holographic recording device. His wide, sad eyes searched the bright, new space for a way forward.

\---

A Borg-enhanced finger pointed towards a reddish sort of crack in the wall. Having been a very good swimmer in his old life, Noah had not immediately searched for the oxygen each competitor had been promised upon completing the first task.

He imagined that with her alien technology, Seven would not be desperate for oxygen either, nevertheless, he submitted to the instruction.

Assuming Seven wished to complete the next task herself in order to save time, Noah slowly took several slurps of oxygen from the tiny red cracks in the walls, before turning back towards the starry expanse.

Seven waited for him besides a slanting, lightly shimmering display which was set a short distance down the same wall.

She was waiting patiently for him, and seemed not at all inclined to do anything further herself.

Being slightly dazzled by the droplets of light which were ricocheting hurriedly across the walls, Lessing swam swiftly towards her.

Hesitating momentarily, knowing that of course, Seven did have the superior intellect but realising that she wanted him to attempt this second task himself, Lessing pressed a light finger to the blank interface. His expression became focused, and resolute.

Seven continued to be patient. As an ex-science officer, she knew that the crewman was certainly capable of successfully solving the equations they would be presented during this battle himself… She supposed that the real challenge each of them faced would be how to successfully work together.

Noah's expression relaxed a little as he completed the task, and leading Seven through a new, brighter opening into the third chamber, their mutual unease lessened.

'This stunt was designed to provoke the Captain', Seven acknowledged with an inward sigh, following Lessing down a long, winding tunnel.

Noticing a long, thin, red line, Seven paused to pout her open lips against the wall. She inhaled once, deeply.

'Does Crewman Collins believe that Noah will try to attack me, as vengeance for the Captain's misdeeds…?'…

The reality of this possibility made the ex-drone's stomach turn. Did Gemma wish her physical harm?

She continued forwards.

In an instant, Noah's muscular arm was around her abdomen. 

She gasped into the airless photonic projection. 

For a millisecond she panicked. This had been a trap. But before she could resist, Lessing had released her.

Looking furiously into the crewman's strained face, she noticed an enormous, pale blue and shimmering holographic pool rushing and clawing up the cavern walls behind him.

She had not been paying attention, and Noah had just stopped her from being sucked into a silent and mean looking holo-maelstrom.

Her expression softening, she looked back at the crewman.

Noah raised his eyebrows. He turned, took some more oxygen from the wall, and looked away.

The ex-drone's anger and suspicion, however fleeting, had broken whatever small rapport Seven and the ex-Equinox crewmember had built during their short time together as teammates.

They could not trust one another.

Aware of their time trial and suddenly becoming even more interested in finishing the battle, Noah immediately began to assess the third and formidable looking chamber, whilst Seven attempted to change her expression into one less accusatory.

In that moment, she resented Kathryn for putting her in this situation. 

Yes, Gemma had orchestrated that herself and Crewman Lessing would compete together. But it was the Captain whose loss of control had caused Noah Lessing, who was by no means guiltless, to become almost a ghost of a man… 

Threatened and humiliated by the commander of a Federation starship, he had been sentenced to a lifetime serving that same commander.

If indeed, the rumours were true.

Determined to be out of this entirely unsatisfactory situation as soon as possible, Seven scanned the cavern herself, quickly finding the next key to their way out.

Their route would require teamwork, efficiency, and the sacrifice of egos.

Ten minutes later however, it would be Tuvok and Takahashi raising the Singing Seabass in emotionless triumph.

\---

Several hours later, and Kathryn finally sat alone with her love in a near empty sickbay.

Seven was safe and well, but the Captain's heart was far from settled.

The Doctor, being a friend of them both, had suggested they could use a quiet corner of the small facility to speak privately during day shifts, when the ready room, the mess hall, the Captain's own quarters, and Cargo Bay Two, were all either occupied, or would raise too many suspicions.

The Doctor sat quietly at his desk, reviewing material on his computer. Seven and the Captain sat at the control station, surrounded by quietly humming computer terminals in the laboratory component of the sickbay, to the Doctor's immediate right.

"I wouldn't want you to miss an opportunity to socialise…" began the Captain in a low voice, "…But Seven, I just don't trust them…"

"… Trust, Captain?"

They spoke quietly, each being confident that the Doctor would not increase the span of his audio subroutines in order to eavesdrop. 

The Doctor himself felt a certain smugness and pride that he was so trusted by the Captain and by his favourite Voyager crewmember, Seven of Nine. He cleared his throat importantly, and raised his chin. Whatever criticism he had had of the Captain's judgement earlier that day had been swiftly forgotten.

The illumination was low, and Kathryn rested the finger tips of one hand upon Seven's lower thigh. She stroked the fabric of the burgundy biosuit gently.

The area in which they sat was cramped, and each drew comfort from feeling the warmth of the other as their legs touched.

The ex-drone's hands sat in her lap, and as she continued to speak, the Captain's expression became increasingly downcast.

"… We had not originally distrusted each other. Despite my proximity to you… Despite our proximity to each other…" 

Kathryn's lips tightened. She was more distressed than she wanted to admit.

She closed her eyes as Seven continued…

"At least, I did not originally distrusted him. But, Captain… I fear I have not made a sufficient effort in offering him my friendship. I would like to try again this evening. Crewman Collins said he would be present."

Kathryn's fingers stilled their persistent caress and she lowered her head. She said nothing for several, long moments. 

The Inky Blinders were having some sort of gathering tonight, and Collins had invited Seven. 

Having lost their past two battles, they were perhaps coming together for some much needed strategising. Or maybe for some commiserating drinks. But Kathryn really did not believe that would be all. Especially since she was aware that some of her fellow Above-Average Joes members would be attending as well.

But Kathryn's main thoughts had fixed upon what had happened after Voyager had found its sister ship, the Equinox… And on the subsequent events which followed the revelation of the Equinox crew's secret . 

As silence fell between the two women, each withdrawing into her own thoughts, Kathryn's memories intensified.

Upon discovering Captain Ransom's disgrace, Janeway, a fellow Starfleet Captain, had been lone in expressing the full fury of the Federation, and had lost herself.

Or more honestly, she had discovered a deep, dark cavity within her own soul which, similarly, was void of mercy, and was intent only on destruction.

She remembered the feeling of power she had embraced whilst administering what she felt was 'justice', and how she had been disgusted when Chakotay had taken that power from her.

And now her own partner, an infinitely brave young woman, who had been taken by the Equinox crew and violated, was expressing sorrow at not having succeeded in making peace with a man whom the Captain herself had decided had no value as a human. Not as a Starfleet officer or as anything else.

As a Captain, she had been content in gambling with Noah Lessing's life. And now Seven, whose capacity for love and forgiveness was clearly so much greater than her own, was struggling with feelings of regret.

Regret for a situation Kathryn herself had created. 

And which Crewman Collins was now exploiting.

The Captain's blood pressure was rising. She began to remember that Collins' exploitation of Seven had actually started through what was surely blackmail, when the crewman had discovered that Seven had accessed her personal log entries, and those of their fellow crew members.

Gemma hadn't expressively stated that she would reveal Seven's secret, but Seven may have believed it would have been a possibility, had she not complied with Gemma's instructions.

Kathryn felt a sudden and intense anger towards herself for not having recognised such a situation. She had already given Seven a very minor dressing down for the breach the ex-drone had made of the crew's confidence. But the thought of a potential for blackmail had not even crossed her mind…

And why had Seven breached the crew's trust in this way in the first place?

The ex-drone had wanted to improve her understanding of humanity. She had wanted to improve her chances of developing friendships, connections to others which would add value and fulfilment to her life.

Overcome with emotion at her own failures in helping Seven discover humanity naturally, at having missed the young woman's vulnerability to blackmail, and at creating the situation with Noah Lessing, Kathryn took a sudden, strained inhalation. Her eyes watered, and her body became stiff with rage, and regret.

"… I can't ask for your forgiveness, Seven…" Began the Captain in a small, pained voice, her chest contorting in despair as she spoke firstly of her Equinox shame, "… My actions at that time were unjustified, and unforgivable…"

Fiercely trying to blink away tears, Kathryn glanced upwards and through the transparent window towards the Doctor who sat nonchalantly reviewing files on his computer screen.

Seven caught her slender arm as she frustratedly wiped away a tear, and Kathryn stared sorrowfully into the younger woman's powerful gaze.

"… But, Seven…" continued the Captain in a whisper, "… I think Gemma is trying to blackmail you…"

Taking a moment to understand the Captain's words, Seven took the Captain's arm into her lap and spoke tenderly.

The Captain listened in a state of desperation, her other hand now furiously wiping away the tears which were threatening to overcome her.

"Crewman Collins is… cunning. But her interest is not in me…" 

Seven remembered her encounter with the crewman the previous week.

It was the Captain of whom Collins blamed for her various ills. It was Janeway of whom Collins wanted to punish, not herself. The fact that she had read Gemma's personal log entries seemed to amuse the crewman more than anything.

Holding her Captain a little tighter, she continued,"She wishes to engage in emotional warfare with you. The fact that I read her personal log entries was countered by the fact that she had decided to read mine. She blames you for her life here in the Delta quadrant. And she believes she is making a bold stand against you by increasing her interest in me… She wants you to believe that she can hurt me. But she is not blackmailing me… I think that I just interest her."

After a short moment in which Janeway forcibly began to regain her composure, her suspicions of blackmail having been temporarily assuaged, Kathryn finally answered Seven with a level of anger which the Doctor could not honestly pretend to ignore.

"But what of you, Seven! She is taking advantage of you, she is using your position as my partner as a weapon; she wishes to punish me by punishing you!"

The Doctor moved from his office into the treatment area, and Seven released Kathryn's arm . The Captain began furiously busying herself with trying to mop her face without smudging her make-up. She eyed the EMH wearily as he resumed his work on a bio bed computer terminal out of earshot.

Seven watched her agonised lover in patient silence.

Kathryn's skin was red with emotion. Continuing to suppress her feelings the best she could, the Captain finally turned to stare with wide, watery red eyes back into Seven's calm face.

The ex-drone finally replied to Kathryn's outburst slowly, and matter-of-factly, "… She will fail…"

Exasperated, wanting to disagree but knowing that her despondency would not help the situation, Kathryn's dark blue eyes found Seven's once more, and giving up her anger for the briefest of moments, the Captain laughed.

Smiling softly, Seven's eyes wandered towards the Doctor. Kathryn's eyes slowly following. 

As Seven contemplated the warmth and the care the hologram had shown both herself and the Captain following the unofficial news of their relationship, Kathryn's own thoughts turned to procedure, and punishment.

The two women then looked once more at one another.

The Captain was taking steadying breaths. Silently, she contemplated her position…

No, a starship Captain should never pursue a relationship with one of his or her crewmembers. Seven's added position as a liberated Borg drone made her romantic relationship with the younger woman even more questionable given the added vulnerability the once 'Annika Hansen' now carried.

Kathryn was not innocent. But she loved Seven, and was motivated only by love. She would never seek to harm her. And she would give her life to save her.

Gemma, on the other hand, was motivated by hatred. And as her Captain, and her lover, Kathryn would be damned if she allowed any harm to come to Seven, emotional or otherwise, by the hands of a depressed and disgruntled crewmember like Collins.

They slid closer to one another, their legs interlocking and their hands reaching around the body of the other. 

Seven's clear eyes were a hot turquoise. Their energy lured the Captain forwards, enchanting her as first they did when the young woman was initially extricated from her Borg armoury in that very facility.

Seven smiled gently, recognising Kathryn's confidence returning to her, and being happy for them both.

Dismissing the fact they were not in private quarters, the furious and inhibitionless Kathryn took Seven's face in her trembling hands, and began to kiss her slowly.

Hearing no mutterings at all, only silence and a few scuffles, the Doctor's eyes widened. He sidestepped with his back still turned out of eyeshot of the embracing women.

He reasoned that they had probably forgotten he was still there.

\---

"Deck fifteen."

Seven stood alone and anxious in the turbo lift.

Intrigued to be visiting the lower decks, having never done so before, she nevertheless did not take it as a good sign that her fellow teammates wished only to celebrate, or commiserate, their two losses in the deepest and most secluded part of the of the Intrepid-class starship.

Gemma had not given her a location when she had invited her via com link earlier that day. Nonetheless, the location was now no longer a secret, and so Seven was not as alone as she would have otherwise felt.

The Captain knew exactly where she would be tonight.

'What will we be doing?' She asked herself in some frustration. She still struggled in social settings, and although she had both been a spectator and a participant in the previous two games, her role had been clear…

She did not like uncertainty.

The lift doors opened, and upon her first breath, she coughed. The deck had thin clouds of grey smoke wafting towards the entrance.

"Computer…" She croaked, alarmed, and not exiting the turbo lift, "Increase ventilation to deck fifteen."

"Unable to comply."

But before the ex-drone could enquire further, a second computerised voice spoke. It was male, deep, and disquieting, "Welcome, Seven of Nine, to the Voyager Community Snake Pit."

It was the original voice of the commandeered Cardassian interstellar bomb, Dreadnought. Its file had been copied and accessed and was now enjoying a new lease of life.

Seven was confused.

The distant laughter, cheers, and jeers of an unseen crowd however assured the ex-Borg that the smoky mist ahead of her was at least safe enough. 

Stepping out of the turbo lift, her nostrils flared disapprovingly as she realised her fellow crewmen had managed to either replicate or synthesise some sort of narcotic.

Questioning again the wisdom of taking another step forward, the creepy computer voice prompted, "Seven of Nine, your presence is required in Plasma Relay Room Six. Please proceed to Plasma Relay Room Six."

Sighing heavily, Seven strode forwards into the mist.

If Gemma had been involved in distributing some sort of disallowed substance, thus threatening the health and well-being of their fellow crewmen, the ex-drone would not be able to ignore it.

Her senses heightened as she heard the turbo lift doors hiss closed behind her, her heart beat faster as her adrenaline rose; she did not want to have to get into any altercations with any intoxicated crewman tonight.

"Sevennnnn!" A young, male crewman Seven had never spoken to exclaimed from the shadow of a bulkhead. He flopped out in front of her and she flinched, and then caught him.

Apparently he had been holding onto the wall for support. Another, wide-eyed and amazed fellow female crewmember remained slumped behind the bulkhead.

Seven sighed in disappointment. This is not how she had envisaged the evening playing out.

Kathryn might have been right. This encounter with Gemma was not going to be a friendly one… The ex-drone was wasting her time…

But since she was already on the lower deck, she felt that she should at least ensure that activities taking place were safe enough.

That would be the responsible thing to do. 

Gazing tiredly at the two crewmen, Seven reached for her combadge.

It chirped, and then died.

"Seven of Nine…" Began the young female crewman, still clutching the wall, "What arrre you doing here?"

Her concern rising, Seven held the young man around his waist to steady him, and then reached with her other arm for the young woman, "You are both inebriated. Come with me to sick bay -" 

"…Nnnnoooooo!" hooted the young woman, and swinging her head dangerously downwards, she pushed herself free from the wall and tore around a corner leading to a light source.

Grinning upwards into Seven's horrified face, her male friend gently extricated himself from the ex-drone's grasp, yelled, "Jessicaaaaa!", and swooped forwards to follow her, bashing his shoulder heavily into a sealed door in his hasty pursuit.

Seven stood motionless for another moment. She then retried her combadge.

It wasn't working.

"Computer, alert the Doctor"

"Unable to comply"

A shriek in the distance followed by a great bellowing of laughter and more hooting made the ex-drone step back.

This definitely was not a situation she wanted to be in by herself…

But neither did she want to call security straightaway. If she had the option to make a call, that was.

She was trying to build trust, not question it.

"Seven of Nine, please proceed to Plasma Relay Room Six" came the creepy computer voice once more.

"Why can you not alert the Doctor?" Seven asked testily, re-entering the turbo lift, "Deck Five."

"Unable to comply" replied the Cardassian, computer voice.

At the same time, Voyager's own female computer voice alerted, "Unable to comply".

Her impatience rising as she concluded that the computer malfunctions, severed communications pathways and judgement-impairing narcotics use were probably more examples of Crewman Collins' particular brand of humour, Seven held her breath resentfully, and stormed back into the smoke in search of answers.

The smoke became thicker, and the sounds of thuds and yells became louder. 

Passing over a dozen more drunken crewmen in the darkness, all of whom were slouching, embracing, chuckling at their own slurred conversations, or doing all three, Seven began to feel a sense of anger at what she perceived to be a pitiful display of irresponsibility.

Turning several sharp corners in pursuit of the light and sound emanating from her destination, Seven did not register the various looks of confusion, and of shock, the scattered, drunken crewmen lining the corridors had given her upon recognising her passing figure.

As the ex-drone turned into the noisy entrance of Plasma Relay Room Six, a slightly older crewman sitting in a doorway took a long suck from his replicated, 20th-century style bong, and braced himself for the drama he knew was to come.

More looks of surprise met the ex-drone as she stepped into the burning torch lit and extremely cramped facility. The noisy activity in which the crowd had been pursuing was abruptly paused.

Seven estimated that there were around thirty crewmembers present in the small facility, and their disquiet upon seeing her made her feel just as she did when she had first joined Voyager.

It was a few weeks before Janeway had trusted her enough to allow her to roam the starship freely, but it was still months and years before others had trusted her similarly.

Her sense of foreboding rocketed. But her Borg stubbornness ensured that she stood her ground.

She stared at them all.

This was not a party, or else any other type of innocent gathering… These crewmen, all of which she recognised from the crew manifest, had a secret. And from the looks on their faces, somehow that secret involved her.

Or was she being paranoid?

Not having inhaled since exiting the turbo lift, and feeling as though the last breaths inside of her had been suddenly punched outward, Seven was forced to inhale deeply.

The air was thick with narcotic-infused musk, smoke and sweat.

Her Borg nerve wavering in place of a new, unspeakable feeling of foolishness, Seven forcefully tried to refocus.

She had definitely not been invited here for reasons of comradery, or simply for the chance of civil conversations with crewmembers she wished to know more deeply.

Her presence had been clearly unexpected, and she felt an embarrassment that she could not easily tolerate.

Kathryn had warned her something was wrong. But she had had dismissed this warning, believing that she knew Gemma better than that.

But of course, she did not know the crewman at all.

Her heart strained in discomfort. She felt humiliated.

But she was now there to assess the modifications and any damage made to the ship's systems.

Turning from the crowd, who stood interspersed with equipment and workstations, and other platforms with which they were using to rest their drinks and other, random objects on, Seven step backwards to face the one side of the facility she had not yet seen.

She immediately saw the person she was looking for.

Approaching the only two crew members wearing gas masks, supposedly to enable them to retain their sobriety as they oversaw an event which would otherwise get to them and all their friends in trouble, Seven quickly registered more details about the environment around her.

There were bespoke, cannibalised computer terminals lining what was the longest of the low-ceilinged walls. Each display screen listed a group of crewmembers in one column, and a primitive style tally chart in another.

In total almost fifty crewmember's names were listed, with a record of points they had accrued standing next to them. 

'Points for what?' Seven questioned herself, frustrated not to have enough information to answer that question yet, and not wishing any more to seek answers from anybody else.

The two gas mask wearing crewmen stood at a control station in a corner next to the long wall of screens.

The smaller one removed her transparent mask, her thick, dark brown hair fell free, and she watched as the ex-Borg's large, uneasy eyes fell finally upon the screen listing her own name/designation.

Seven's tally was blank.

"Nul points…" Gemma Collins sighed, placing down her mask on the control station and inhaling deeply through her nose. Her boots softly squeaked as she shifted her balance.

Seven turned to the engineer, whose conceit was palpable, and thoroughly unpleasant.

Seeking only to put an end to whatever activity the young engineer had conspired to see her witness, or else, become involved in, the ex-drone took several sharp steps towards the control station.

Her expression hardened as she fought against a humiliation so acute she instinctively wanted to flee. Her fingertips pounded the control panels in her search to discover which exact computer systems were being accessed for the purposes of hosting this activity. She sought plainly to override any commands and modifications which had been made by one, or both, or more of the crewmen.

Kitty Willis, the Ensign who had introduced herself to Seven at the first battle, and who had been the main programmer and designer of the second, was the second crewman wearing a gas mask.

Similarly removing her mask, she took a step backwards, put a long-fingered hand on one hip, and stared disbelievingly at Gemma. Apparently she had not been informed of the engineer's secret invitation to Seven of Nine either.

Sensing danger, some individuals among the crowd began to mutter. Others took hold of their drinks, and dispersed. 

'Security systems, Environmental systems… Holographic systems…'

Using a simple Borg encryption code, Seven was able to access the history of modifications made which had enabled the deck fifteen gathering to take place apparently undetected by the bridge operations, security or tactical officers.

Without immediately attempting to overrule these commands, the ex-drone pursued the one avenue which had made her pause… Modifications made to the holographic imaging system…

The image of a woman appeared on the small screen before her.

… It was the Captain.

Her expression froze.

She looked back towards the tally chart… a score chart…

Rapidly coming to a devastating conclusion about the nature of the activities on deck fifteen, Seven's self-pity evolved into rage.

"Seven, you weren't supposed to be here… Gemma has just been messing with you -" began Willis apologetically, but Seven cut across her. 

"You are the one who synthesised the narcotic…"

Kitty stared at her.

Seven's eyes bravely scanned the room. Among the many stubborn and drug-emboldened figures who stared back at her, she quickly found the individual who did not belong.

Her heart strained. 

Four, thin limbs sat folded amongst the uniformed legs of its aggressors.

The holographic skin was bruised, dirty, and becoming too distressed to witness any more, Seven dropped her head back towards the control station.

Whatever she had expected to see tonight, in her wildest, most anxiety-filled dreams, she did not expect to have seen this.

She attempted to deactivate and delete the programme.

She could not.

Trying her hardest to fight Gemma's unspeakable provocation, Seven instead tried to distract herself by continuing her impersonal scrutiny of the distribution and misuse of illegal substances.

Her voice trembled with suppressed emotion. 

"… You have succeeded in compromising Voyager's defensive capabilities. In the event she is attacked, this crew would not be fit to serve." 

Ensign Willis raised her eyebrows towards Gemma just as something shiny glinted across Seven's periphery. A heavy thud followed and Seven flinched.

"Sucker punch, Cassandra Daniels" announced the Cardassian computer voice coldly.

Somebody had scored another point. 

"Tell me how to terminate the program…" spluttered Seven, her impersonal resolve fading quickly.

Having inputted encryption after encryption, she could not find the holographic program's precise location.

She was struggling internally. This was a sick game. A hologram was being abused to an extent she could not yet verify. And the person in whose image the hologram was created indicated that this abuse signified the intent of assault on that person.

Neither Kitty nor Gemma, nor anybody in the crowd responded.

Her nanoprobes spinning insanely beneath her hot skin, Seven encountered barrier after barrier in the holographic imaging command lines, and in the security overrides.

The computer simply would not allow her access to the file.

Another heavy thud accompanied by a squeaky giggle, and Seven's body began to tremble.

"Go back upstairs, Seven -" advised Kitty, but in a burst of anger and impatience, Seven turned viciously around to Gemma, the genius engineer who had made this possible, and barked, "Terminate the program!… Comply!"

Gemma's brow furrowed. She looked curiously back into the ex-drone's pleading face… and appeared satisfied. Clearly her stunt had caused the effect she had intended. She would sleep well tonight.

Helpless, Seven turned back to the controls. 

Her body felt sore with regret. She knew that she had entered the deepest bowels of the ship. The darkest parts of her collective.

In this subsection of their community, Starfleet's honour-bound values of decency and respect, characteristics Seven herself had been forced to relearn as she struggled to regain her humanity, did not seem to apply. 

She was afraid. And more than ever, she wanted a friend. She hated herself for ever thinking that Gemma could have been that friend. Or that Gemma ever wanted to be friends.

Hearing Collins heave another sigh behind her, she heard the triumphant engineer speak the words, "Stop trying to fix it, Seven. Go and give Janeway the thrashing you owe her -"

Seven abandoned the control station and grabbed Collins by the scruff of her jacket. The blonde glared into the crewman's happily, shining eyes, before pulling her roughly forwards. 

Gemma groaned dramatically but did not resist.

The crowd parted to let them through. Nobody dared challenge Seven, nor attempted to free the engineer.

Reaching the centre of the room, Seven's insides turned over. On the cold floor lay the vulnerable, naked form of the holographic Captain Janeway.

Seven bent downwards, sliding the metal rod which had been used only seconds before to suddenly strike the hologram to the side with one hand, and forcing Gemma to the floor alongside her with the other.

Her eyes did not meet the holo-Captain's, but the marks and the bruises upon her skin could not hide themselves from Seven's anguished gaze.

The Captain's medical file had clearly been accessed and the parameters of her body used to make this hyperrealistic but flickering hologram. 

Seven had never been more offended by humanity. Those present would not even grant the photonic woman the courtesy of clothes.

On her way to the floor, she had noticed another reason to be disappointed.

Noah Lessing, exhausted, bleary eyed, and balancing on a broken chair, was staring daggers down at his former teammate, 'Seven of Borg'.

The ex-Borg noticed several objects she recognised as ancient Earth society bongs standing grubbily among a heap of trash behind him, and having clearly helped smoke the narcotics inside them into sticky oblivion, Seven's nose unhappily caught Lessing's new odour of decay.

He leaned downwards, his mind foggy with anger and the phantoms of past regrets. Seven continued to quietly examine the hologram, only just hearing the ex-Equinox crewman's spiteful murmur, "We cannot all love your Captain, Seven…"

She ignored him, and instead looked finally into the shining, dark blue eyes of the tousle haired, broken lipped and bleeding holo-Captain.

Her own voice dying in her throat, the ex-drone thought it peculiar that the vocal subroutines of the hologram were either corrupted or else muted. She had, after all, heard bangs, but no screams.

And what's more, the hologram did not look to be in pain. Her face was impassive. Beautiful. But disfigured all the same.

Seven's heart lifted slightly.

Shuffling onto her bum to get comfortable, Gemma watched contently as Seven softly grasped the arm of the holographic woman and examined her mobile emitter.

Despite herself, she had to once more acknowledge Crewman Collins' ingenuity at pulling off such a feat. A mobile emitter, with only twenty-fourth century technology. It should have been impossible.

"Well I'm glad you weren't planning on just ripping it off," piped up Collins, delighted to be able to share her engineering prowess with the former drone, "It took me a long time to -"

"What is the status of the this hologram's sensory subroutines?" Interjected Seven sharply, turning towards Gemma and wanting to make absolutely sure that the young engineer had not in fact orchestrated what had seemed to be the full and vicious torture of a holographic being.

"Ahhhhhh…" Grinned Gemma merrily, her bat-like eyes shimmering in the torchlight as she looked happily upwards towards Kitty, who had been gazing down at them. "You see, Seven…" She looked back into the ex-Borg's stony gaze, smiling as she noted how Seven held the hologram tenderly, "We are not animals… The hologram sees, and hears, but it does not feel…"

Turning to the hologram contemptuously, the crewman snarled, "I mean, look at it. It is just a rag doll -"

And with that, Gemma punched the holo-Captain directly in the face. 

Seven sprang back to life, raising her right arm to shield the hologram as holo-Kathryn's holo-head flew backwards.

Still deeply disturbed and now struggling to fight away tears of grief, Seven caught the holographic woman's long, straggly auburn hair, and slowly brought her head back upwards. Holo-Janeway blinked several times, opened and closed her jaw, and reached with delicate fingers towards the spot her holographic nose had just been broken…

She had not screamed, she did not flinch. And with enquiring, midnight eyes, she gazed steadily into the face of the unhappy woman who held her.

Seven's fingers gently stroked her photonic skin, and the hologram's unpainted lips curled into the faintest of smiles.

A moment later, the silent and broken hologram was gone.

The ex-drone's forearms remained elevated briefly as she cradled thin air. Lowering them slowly she breathed deeply. She swiped the tears from her eyes with the rough sleeve of her biosuit, and stood still defiantly to face Gemma, who stood in unison.

The young engineer held the mobile emitter in the palm of their hand, having finally ended the program with a sequence of commands. Lessing, Willis, and the crowd Seven had almost forgotten looked on.

Choosing her words slowly, Gemma looked downwards and closed her fingers around the impossible mobile emitter which she had created, "… Welcome to our starship, Seven…"

Moving to stand by Kitty's side, she snaked her arm around the science officer's waist , and Kitty, looking guilty but resolute, raised her hand to hold Gemma's, "It's nice you took the time to learn a bit about us. We look forward to learning a bit more about you."

Turning swiftly away from the two crewmen and the crowd, and with no intention of ever speaking to the engineer again, Seven headed back into the corridor in search of the nearest Jefferies tube.

She wanted to cry, but she could not yet allow herself.

Scowling inwardly, she realised that she felt betrayed by Collins. The woman whose personal log entries had resonated so deeply with the ex-drone, had become, or perhaps was always, some sort of sociopath.

Seven turned a corner and opened a hatch.

'Or perhaps, this was simply the crewman's chronic depression, in action…' 

Hesitating, confused, angry and despairing, Seven felt appalled and humiliated. Her lips quivered and she clambered quickly into the Jefferies tube. Her body stiffening, she reached to close the hatch behind her, and cried.

\---

Twelve attempted regeneration cycles. Twelve interrupted regeneration cycles.

"What is going on…" Whispered Kathryn worriedly to herself, the computer terminal at her desk telling her that Seven was not regenerating. The ex-drone could not stay connected to her alcove for more than five minutes.

The Captain could not sleep herself. Her insomnia was in full swing tonight. She suspected her agitation and tears earlier had not helped her body to relax, but she was worried about Seven. The young woman was after all, first and foremost, a member of her crew.

But she did not want to bother her by revealing that she had been watching her failed attempts at regeneration.

Seven was after all extremely skilled as both a scientist and engineer, she would surely be able to troubleshoot the problem.

But after an hour and a half of trying, Kathryn could see her love was struggling.

The Captain could not remain where she was.

Ordering a new uniform from her replicator, she changed swiftly out of the shorts and T-shirt she had not yet gone to sleep in, slid on her heels, ran her comb briefly through her hair, and exited her quarters.

When she would find Seven, she would be faced with an urgent decision. 

To continue as a community leader, or as a Captain. But for the nature of this new, deeply personal battle, she could not be both.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for your patience in reading this chapter :-) Happy Halloween everybody!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! :-)
> 
> All thoughts and suggestions appreciated :-)


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